A very StarKid Summer
by CharlieTubs
Summary: A RL StarKid fan-fic. I do not know Team StarKid, but I love them deeply.
1. On the way

'JOEY, GET YOUR ARSE OUT OF MY FACE!' Meredith screamed as she was pushed into the already cramped minibus. Walker and Jaime were sitting in the front two seats, Joe having bagsied driving earlier that week and Jaime having called shot gun on the least crowded space to avoid the pot of crazy that always went on in the back on this sort of trip.

Tyler, Brolden and Nick were sitting at the back, having a fairly normal discussion and ignoring their crazy friends who were squishing into the middle of the van. JoMo was sitting at the far side, heaving Joey through the door as Meredith was pushed by Lauren, who was surprisingly strong for such a small person. Joey collapsed on top of Joe Moses as Meredith regained her composure and climbed in, sitting at the other side and leaving a space for Lauren to squeeze through into the middle.

'You're so awkward Mer! Can't you just get over this and sit next to Joey, it would make life a lot easier!' Lauren pleaded as she swung one toned leg over Meredith, clambering over the taller girl to sit between her two friends. Brolden grinned at Lauren over the seats, before winking and stretching out in the more spacious back seats. Tyler giggled at Laurens disgruntled face, which became a full on laugh when Meredith and Joey began to squabble over her.

Joe yelled from the front. 'GUYS! I'm trying to drive here, SHUT UP!'

'The vans not even moving yet!' Moses replied loudly over Joey and Merediths bickering that Jaime was trying to put a stop to. Lauren had given up and climbed over the backseat to lie across Brolden, Tyler and Nick, none of whom seemed to mind because of the tiny amount of weight she carried.

Jaime gave up on Joey and Meredith and plugged herself into her iPod. Sometimes she wondered how she still had her sanity after working with this lot. Even a holiday was stressful! Walker started the minibus and as it pulled away from the drive, Nick burst into song.

'We're all going on a, SUMMER HOLIDAY!'

'No more working for a, week or two!' Lauren and Brolden burst out on the next line.

The song continued, and when it finished the StarKids settled back into their usual activities for such a journey. Tyler and Jaime having a somewhat loud debate about their favourite Broadway productions from different ends of the bus, Lauren doing hilarious impressions of their friends and each other, causing Brian to have a nosebleed when he laughed so forcefully that he smacked his head on the door frame. Joey and Meredith were being civil to each other, they had placed the huge cool-box in Lauren's vacated seat. Joe Moses was looking out the window, somewhat bored with his friends behaviour. He suggested they play the guessing game, where you describe something and the others have to guess it, which on reflection wasn't the best idea he'd ever had.

'OOOH, I'LL GO FIRST!' Walker squealed from the front seat, only half paying attention to where he was going. 'Okay, it's small, annoying and extremely noisy for its size.'

'It's Lauren' said Brolden without skipping a beat, which earned him a scathing look and friendly punch from the girl herself.

'Correct! Your turn Bri!' Joe said, causing Lauren to choke indignantly, which made everyone present laugh hysterically.

The game continued, everyone was able to guess Joey's before he even started describing it.

'Okay, mine-'

'RED VINE' Said the whole bus in unison, even Nick looked up from his book to laugh at the dumbfounded expression on Joey's crooked face.

'It's a little obvious, Joey honey' Said Jaime half kindly, half amused.

Lauren was bouncing up and down, she had got more and more agitated the further they had gone.

'Lo, do you need the loo AGAIN?' Walker asked exasperated.

'Um…' Lauren mumbled self-consciously.

'Awh, leave her alone! She's only ickle!' Brian said, ruffling her hair. Tyler yelled as the shoe that had been aimed at Brian almost hit him in the face. She scream woke up JoMo who had been asleep ever since he suggested the game, and roused Jaime from her music. Meredith had jumped with shock and ended up on Joeys lap, everyone held their breath, unsure if a renewed fight would break out, but to everyone's delight, Joey simply kissed her on the nose, and cuddled her.

'I'm sorry for shouting earlier Mer, I didn't mean it.' He said, looking at her warily, unsure of what her reaction would be.

'I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have taken your Red Vines, I won't do it again.' She clambered off Joeys lap after giving him an overenthusiastic kiss on the cheek, smacking her lips.

Lauren began chanting 'Are we there yet?' over and over again until every single person was screaming at her, and they eventually smothered her with pillows. Only Tyler and Jaime were sympathetic and pulled the cushions off her before he could suffocate.

Walker looked out the window, this was already a great holiday, and it hadn't even started yet.


	2. Flight of fancy

By the time they reached the airport, every StarKid had fallen asleep expect Joe, who as the driver would have probably killed them had he fallen asleep.

Jaime was snoring gently, her head lolling onto his shoulder, one earphone of her iPod blasting defying gravity. The row back, JoMo's face was stuck against the window, and had been for some time. The others had taken advantage of this earlier in the evening and taken several embarrassing pictures of him to keep themselves amused. Joey and Meredith were curled up against each other, both glad to have resolved their earlier fight. Meredith's legs were tucked underneath her, and Joey had his arm around her shoulders while she leant her head on his chest.

Nick had a seat away from the others and was mumbling softly in his sleep about Avatar. Tyler and Brolden had moved to be either side of Lauren, although they needn't have bothered, as she was stretched out over both of them. Her feet over a sleeping Tyler's legs and her head in Brian's lap, who had fallen asleep absentmindedly stroking her light brown hair.

Joe parked up the minibus and looked around at his friends. They all looked so innocent and peaceful when they were asleep, but this was SUMMER. They needed to have a bit of fun. Joe smashed his hand into the horn on the steering wheel, waking up every person on the bus simultaneously. Meredith and Joey banged heads, and both began complaining simultaneously, at the same time, Lauren fell off of Brian and Tyler onto the floor, where she got stuck in a small gap under the seats in front. Tyler sleepily reached down to pull her back up again while Brian tried to regain his nerve after the sudden noise. Jaime grumbled and smacked Joe when he laughed at her bed hair. Nick jumped out of the back doors and began pulling luggage out of the boot of the bus.

Somehow, Moses had managed to sleep through the whole ordeal, so like the mischievous minx she was, Lauren opened the door he had been resting against, and because he wasn't wearing a seatbelt, he awoke with a yell as he fell to the floor. He opened his eyes to find Lauren staring down at him, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

'Nice of you to drop in!'

JoMo tickled the back of her legs, causing her to collapse in a heap on top of him. Nick was getting stressed out.

'LOOK! If we don't go now, we'll miss the plane! Get up all of you, grab your bags and GO!'

Each person jumped to it, The boys had small travel cases which they dragged no trouble across the concrete and into the terminal. Lauren had brought the biggest suitcase she owned.

'Lo, you do realise we're only going for a week, we're not moving there honey.' Brolden said with a slight smile.

Lauren pushed him lightly. 'Shut up you! It's so there's room for everything I'm going to buy!' She clambered on top of her suitcase, and as usual Tyler came to push her along on it.

'You're so childish Lo!' he exclaimed as she grinned around at everyone, now several feet shorter than usual.

'So what, as long as I'm short enough to get away with it, I will!'

Meredith and Joey tagged along behind the others, followed by Jaime who looked half asleep still. Walker bought her a coffee, which she gulped down like it was air. It cleared her head slightly.

'WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!' Lauren screamed as Tyler dragged her through the main entrance to the airport. The floor was so shiny that he slipped, and nearly fell over but Joey caught him just in time.

'I don't think 'always dance' is appropriate here, Ty. You might hurt someone, someone being yourself or Lauren!'

Tyler flashed a dazzling smile at Joey before winking at Lauren and saying 'come on Lo, that's enough.'

She pouted at him, but he shook his head. She sighed and picked up her suitcase, which she could have actually fitted in had she wanted to. 'Fine, let's go!' She made her way through the crowds to check in. It was about 2am now, and the sleep on the coach hadn't put her in too good a mood, but she was still extremely excited about this holiday.

All the StarKids got through check-in, and then came the squabble about who would sit next to who on the 4 hour plane journey. It was eventually decided that Lauren would sit between Joe Walker and Brian, next to them would be Joey, Meredith and Nick and behind them would be Tyler, Jaime and JoMo.

They all scrambled to get to their seats. Walker argued with Lauren about who would sit in the middle, and as usual, she won. Brolden sat by the window, next to Lauren and a rather disgruntled Joe sat in the aisle seat. Joe tried to stay angry at Lauren but it was too hard. She snuggled up to him and batted her long brown eyelashes and he reluctantly smiled down at her.

'You're really annoying Lo.'

'Never been told that before!' She winked and settled down to read a magazine.

Meredith and Joey were having a debate about whether cookie dough or phish food was better.

'It's CLEARLY cookie dough Joey. There is NO competition!'

'You're wrong Mer, phish food is like, as good as red vines! Almost anyway…'

Nick was listening with interest to his best friends squabbling. He was really happy to be going away with his best friends, he was just upset that Matt couldn't be here too.

Tyler and Jaime were watching an inflight movie, which happened to be Tangled, Tyler's favourite. He was quoting along with all of Flynn Riders lines, which was amusing Joe but driving Jaime up the wall.

Eventually they all fell asleep again, which was good, because Joe Walker hadn't slept in over 48 hours. He pushed up the arm rest and settled across Laurens lap. She read her magazine over his head, and chatted to Brian who was looking a little bit sick.

Brian hated flying. He always had, but living where he did it was necessary to get anywhere! He was glad Lauren was there. She wasn't scared of anything that he knew, and knew just what to say to keep his mind off the fact that they were hurtling through the air thousands of metres up in a hunk of metal. The plane gave a slight lurch and he grabbed her small had reflexively. She stroked the back of his hand and grinned at him.

'It's just turbulence, Bri, it's fine. Try and sleep or something, we'll be there in a bit.'

He smiled uneasily at her and tried to settle down. He could hear Walker snoring, which calmed him down slightly. Eventually he fell asleep, Lauren watched him until she saw all the tension leave his face before settling down herself.


	3. On the road again

Nick started to wake up the StarKids just before landing.

'Come one guys, we're nearly here!' He said softly, but excitedly to Joey and Meredith.

'Whut?' Said Meredith stupidly as she looked around bleary eyed.

An announcement came over the speakers from the cockpit to say that they would be preparing for landing in approximately 5 minutes. Lauren gently shook Brian, she didn't want to startle him and he hated the descent just as much as he hated the journey, if not more so. Lauren flicked Walker in the head as he was still laying across her legs.

'Jeesh Walks, I can't feel my legs! I swear, your head weighs more than I do!'

's'not hard Lo' Said Joey, yawning.

She stuck her small pointy tongue in his direction, and flicked Joe again in the head but harder this time. He tickled her stomach, causing her to crease up laughing and almost restart Brian's nosebleed when she hit him in the face with one of her flailing arms.

'Oops, sorry Bri!' she giggled. 'How was your sleep?'

'Enlightening.' He gasped, clutching his aching nose. 'I swear, if I get another nosebleed because of you I'm going to shove you in your own suitcase, lock it and throw away the key.'

'Good morning to you too, Brian' Said Lauren scathingly, but her tone changed as soon as she saw Brian's face when the plane began to descend.

Moses was finally feeling more awake, and because he had slept so long earlier, he had managed to get some pretty embarrassing pictures of the others while they were sleeping. Tyler mumbling about dance, which he had recorded, had been one of his favourite moments, but also the fact that Walker sucked his thumb! I mean, come on. That was acceptable from Nick, and maybe Lauren as she was about the height of a 3 year old anyway, but Voldemort? Hell no.

He nudged Jaime, who was still sleeping, with his elbow, causing her to wake with a start.

'Mooooooooooooooorning' Joe said with a cute smile.

'Barely' Jaime said groggily. She wasn't one to have a bad night's sleep, but she immediately perked up when she realised that they had nearly arrived. She kicked Tyler in the shins to rouse him and then began to gather up her stuff.

About 15 minutes later, the plane had landed and now all the StarKids were buzzing with excitement. As they waited for their bags on the carousel, they realised that Lauren had gone missing.

'Awh, damn, we had to lose the shortest person!' Joey sighed, exasperated. Within seconds she had appeared. She had run round to the beginning of the carousel and climbed onto it. She waggled her eyebrows as she travelled past them, doing her best suitcase impression. Tyler laughed and swung her up into him arms. Lauren giggled and rolled out of them, onto the airport floor.

'Lo, get up! It's filthy!'

'Relax, Nick. It's a holiday!'

The StarKids suitcases arrived one by one, Jaime's was ALWAYS last, and today was no exception. 'Suitcase god just hates me.' She said desperately as she finally received her bag 45 minutes after the others.

'At least you got it eventually' Said Meredith, pulling her friend into a one armed hug, her other was still holding her suitcase. Lauren bounded over to the girls, pulling her abnormally large suitcase behind her.

'Let's goooooooooo!' She pleaded excitedly. The group made their way towards the door and as it slid open, they were all subjected to a warm whoosh of air.

'Right, to the minibus!' Walker roared, and flung a protesting Jaime over his shoulder as he raced outside. Meredith sighed and picked up Jaime's suitcase, which had been dropped in the excitement. This was going to be an interesting trip.

The congregation made their way to the bus pick up point, and found that the minibus was lmost identical to the one they had had previously. 'I'm driving!' Tyler said quickly, and pulled himself into the seat before anyone could stop him.

'Shotgun front seat!' Screamed Meredith and she climbed in beside him. Joe and Jaime could do nothing about this, as Jaime was still lying over Walkers shoulder. Nick began loading the bags into the boot before taking his usual spot at the back. Joe fed Jaime through to Joey who was waiting in the far side, laughing as she cursed at them all good naturedly. Joey and Jaime shimmied through the seats to the back, where they sat next to Nick.

Lauren, had yet again, called the middle seat, forcing Brian and Joe to crawl in either side of her. Moses took the far seat, and continued filming the scene in front of him.

'Oh no, Moses, you are NOT making another home-movie shebang!' Meredith said sternly and covered her face with her hand as he turned the rolling video camera towards her.

'Oh god, another one! They first one was bad enough!' Moses just grinned at Lauren.

Tyler called for order as he started the bus, which stalled.

'Great going, Ty. We might get there before December at this rate.' Lauren said, rolling her eyes in his direction.

'Someone hit her for me' Tyler said, trying without success, to sound serious.

Eventually he started the bus, and the usual shenanigans started up again. Walker was ignoring Lauren, while she tried to distract him from his book. Eventually, she climbed onto his lap, and sat there speaking constantly in his ear until her gave up and placed he back on her seat.

'Lauren, for such a small person you can be extraordinarily annoying'

'Why thank you!' She smiled cheekily. She considered it her job to annoy as many people as physically possible on these journeys. She usually succeeded with everyone. Now that they were back on the ground, Brian was no exception. He didn't seem to mind it as much as the others though, he usually teased her right back, causing them both to laugh rather than get annoyed at each other.

Lauren was singing 'I've got a song that'll get on your nerves!' Over and over again in his ear. Under his breath, he muttered

'One, two, three, GO!' On the last word, Joe Walker leapt forward and grabbed Lauren, Joey leaned over the seats to hold Lauren's struggling arms and Brian grabbed her red bandana, which she always carried with her, from around her head and tied it over her mouth making a suitable gag.

Moses had filmed the entire episode, and whilst Joey continued to hold her arms, struggling to do so because of the tears of laughter streaming down his face, Brolden tied Laurens hands behind her back so that she couldn't rip off the gag. She contented herself with the most evil glare she could muster.

'Sorry what was that Lauren?' Brian gasped, trying to breathe between bouts of laughter as Lauren tried to shout at the group. Jaime was lying over Joey, tears streaming down her face, which subsided only to be renewed when she looked at Lauren again.

Nick leant back in his chair, laughing at the look on poor Laurens face. He had to hand it to the boys though, they'd timed the ambush perfectly. Not many people could take Lo by surprise, she was practically a ninja.

'NO.' Nick said, as he heard Joey, Brian and both Joes wondering whether to put her in the boot of the bus. 'If we're pulled over you'll be arrested! Grudgingly, they agreed. They sat Lauren up straight and removed the gag before putting her seatbelt across her. They kept her hands behind her back.

'I hate you all.' Lauren said stiffly. People may have thought the glint in her eye was one of submission, but Brian knew that it was her look of planning something mischievous. He'd have to watch out. Lauren looked him in the eye and gave an evil smile. Brian gulped.


	4. Only one way to FIND out

'YES! WE'RE HERE!' Meredith screamed as the minibus pulled up outside their rented villa. She had cheered up completely after the Lauren episode and had got into the true spirit of summer. She clambered out of her seat, yanked the keys to the house from Nicks' outstretched hand and raced towards the door. The others laughed at her idiocy.

Everyone piled out of the bus and Tyler locked the doors. The group raced up the path, shot gunning dorm mates. They had all just entered the house when Jaime suddenly said 'Wait, where's Lo?'

Joey was the first to realise what had happened. 'Crap! We left Lauren in the bus!' He looked around at the others. None of them wanted to be the one to go and get her, they'd be first in the firing line and she had been angry enough at being gagged in the first place.

It was eventually voted that Tyler would go, he had done the least to aggravate her. As he left the house and opened the minibus doors, the other StarKids heard Lauren screaming at him. They looked at each other and simultaneously ran for cover, each looking for the safest hiding place.

Lauren stormed up the path, her hands now free with a red-faced Tyler following in her wake.

'WHERE THE HELL IS BRIAN?' Lauren screamed. Meredith, who was hiding in a cupboard slipped in shock and rolled out onto the floor, coming to a stop directly at Lauren's feet. If looks could kill, Meredith would be dead four times over. Nick cautiously looked out from his hiding place behind the door. Lauren ignored him, the only people she was interested in seeing were Walker, Joey and Brian.

She stormed outside onto the patio, where the swimming pool was. Brian, Joey and Joe were backed against the wall at the far side of the pool. Lauren walked round to her left, which because of the way the pool was set out, effectively trapped the three men from getting away without actually getting in the pool, which none of them wanted to do.

The others had all come out from their hiding places, Moses had his camera out again and was chuckling to himself as the scene unfolded before him. Lauren stalked towards them, for someone so small it was hilarious to see the way the three men pushed one another in front of them to avoid being closest to her.

'Bet you ten dollars she'll beat the three of them single handed' Jaime said quietly to the others who had gathered to watch. Not surprisingly, no one took her up on the offer, they all knew what Lauren was capable of when she was in a mood.

The three guys were hurrying to explain themselves, backed entirely into a corner now. Lauren held up a hand to stop them and they fell silent instantly. 'I think you know you went too far guys, the tying up was not cool. The leaving me in the bus was REALLY not cool and then the avoiding me afterwards just pushed it too far.' She turned as though to walk away, and the boys relaxed slightly, thinking that perhaps she just needed to rant.

Joey stepped forwards just as Lauren turned back. She grabbed him by the arm and flung him into the pool. He was a lot bigger than him, but he was caught off guard and she was stronger than she looked. Joe tried to dodge round her to avoid the same fate, but slipped and fell in, right on top of Joey who was climbing out, pushing him back in again.

Brian had his hands up in a surrender, and Lauren raised her eyebrows at him. Brian didn't wait for her to throw him, he jumped into the pool himself and all three of the guys swam as fast as they could back to the other side of the pool, where they were awaited by a speechless group of friends.

Lauren walked back and the StarKids parted before her, like Moses and the red sea. Joe Moses himself was sitting on top of a box that held pool floats and noodles, having filmed the entire scene. Jaime made as if to follow Lauren but Brian pulled her back. 'Don't, you'll regret it.'

They heard Lauren's voice from the kitchen; 'I'm having the room at the top left of the stairs.' No one argued. They all trooped back inside to get their things. Lauren seemed to have calmed down after her outburst and was talking to the others normally again, excluding Brian, Joe and Joey.

'You're such a wimp, Bri. You jumped in!' Joey said in a hushed voice.

'Oh shut up, at least I kept my dignity at not getting beaten up by a 5 foot tall girl.'

The girls were sharing the room Lauren had asked for, and went up there to unpack. Tyler helped Lauren carry her massive suitcase. The rest of the guys made a mad dash to choose rooms and roommates.

Tyler, Nick and Joe Moses would share the living room and Brian, Joe Walker and Joey would take the other, slightly smaller, bedroom. They all unpacked, a few fights breaking out about space, especially when it was discovered that both Brian and Joe Walker had brought their light sabres with them.

The girls quickly unpacked, changed out of their clothes and into swimwear. Their bedroom window opened out onto a stretch of flat roof that overhung the pool. Meredith called Walker in to check out whether she'd survive jumping off it into the pool.

'Only one way to find out really' Joe grinned.

Meredith climbed out the window, egged on my all the boys except Nick. Lauren was laughing but Jaime was worried.

'You might get-'

Meredith jumped, and with a squeal hit the water, bobbing up unharmed, laughing and daring the others to try it.

'-hurt.' Finished Jaime lamely. Lauren followed suit immediately, leaping into the air and splashing into the pool. JoMo finally put the camera down and bombed from the patio, soaking Nick who was reading by the side of the pool. Soon enough, all the StarKids were splashing about in the water.

Tyler and Brian decided to have a water polo match, but not being able to find a ball, despite Tyler usually being able to find anything, they settled on chucking Lauren between them. She complained, but secretly rather enjoyed it.

It was approaching early evening, but the sun was still hot and the pool heated, so it wasn't until later, when the sun had eventually disappeared entirely that they went inside, and even then they only did because Jaime mentioned that Lauren was turning blue.

They all went inside laughing and giggling, although by now slightly delirious with sleep deprivation. The sat around the living room, all squished in dry clothes and discussed what they were going to do for the rest of the week.


	5. Making the plans

Chapter 5: Making the plans.

'Jesus, that's hot!' Lauren yelled as she took a gulp of the steaming hot chocolate Nick was passing around.

'You know Lauren, I think you might have just discovered why it's called HOT CHOCOLATE' Jaime said sarcastically, grinning as Lauren stuck her tongue out at her.

Lauren was squished on the sofa between Brian and Tyler, and was staring down at Jaime who was sitting across the room on a thick rug, next to Joe Moses. Joe Walker was having an animated discussion with Nick about the rules of volleyball, and accidentally trod on Meredith who was sitting against an armchair which was occupied by an amused Joey. They had all just come in from the pool outside, the boys were happy to continue out there all night, but Jaime had pulled them inside, exclaiming at how blue Laurens lips had gone from the cold water.

Each of them had their hands wrapped round a mug of hot chocolate. Lauren looked even smaller than usual because she was swamped in one of Tyler's hoodies.

'Joey, you're kicking me' Meredith said sleepily as she leant against his legs.

'Mer, you're leaning against my feet. I can't really help it!' He ruffled her hair affectionately.

'Sooooo, where are we going tomorrow?' Jaime asked, bringing the whole groups attention to this one important topic. 'I'm thinking Animal Kingdom!'

'YES!' Said Tyler and Meredith, ecstatic.

'MAGIC KINGDOM!' Yelled Lauren, Brian and Walker.

Nick fancied starting at Blizzard Beach and Joey was desperate to start with Universal studios. It was eventually decided that Animal Kingdom was the place to start, after a bit of good natured grumbling everyone agreed. Meredith had actually fallen asleep near the end of the conversation and was slowly slipping further and further down Joeys legs and onto the floor. Lauren looked exhausted and pleaded with Tyler to carry her upstairs. He looked at her big brown eyes and pouting mouth and, with a sigh, scooped her up and carried her to the girls room while she grinned cheerfully.

Everyone began making their way up to bed, yawning and laughing wearily. None of them had had a proper nights sleep for a few days, and all were eager to sleep in a bed. Jaime followed closely behind Lauren and Tyler and Brian, Joe Moses and Joe Walker laughed as she tripped on a step, before giving her a hug goodnight. Nick saw Meredith on the floor against Joey and silently offered assistance. Joey shook his head and stood up, careful not to jostle Meredith too much. He leant down and picked her up gently. She wasn't heavy, or too tall so she was easy to carry. Nick climbed the stairs ahead of them before saluting at Joey and leaving. Joey knocked on the girls door gently and went in to find Jaime and Lauren already in bed. He placed Meredith on the mattress, hugged the other two and turned to leave the room. As he passed Meredith on the bed he tucked her in more tightly and then as an afterthought, kissed her softly on the forehead.

He felt bad for arguing with her so much, she was one of the most amazing people he knew, but she was also one of the strongest willed. They rubbed each other up the wrong way sometimes but they always got over it.

He left and quietly shut the door. Lauren and Jaime exchanged a glance. What was all that about? Lauren bounded quickly out of bed to turn off the light and retraced her steps in the darkness to clamber back into her large bed.

''Night Jaime Lyn.'

'G'Night Lo.'

The girls were asleep in a few minutes, both exhausted by the previous days. Meredith was thinking. She had woken slightly when being carried upstairs, but not enough to warrant standing up. She had felt Joey tuck her in, and remembered what felt like a kiss being planted gently on her forehead. Had Joey KISSED her? She didn't mind, her and her friends kissed each other all the time, they were so comfortable around their group, but never like that. Never so soft and meaningful.

Ah well, she was probably just hallucinating she thought. She settled down again and listened to Laurens breathing. She was so little when she slept. She was tiny at the best of times, but looked so young when asleep. Meredith felt a sudden rush of love for the friends she knew so well. They were the best friends she could ask for. Each was entirely different yet they made a harmonious group. She fell asleep with this thought on her mind, smiling subconsciously.

The boys in the neighbouring rooms eventually settled down to sleep as well. All of them were looking forward to the next day. They were all big kids at heart.


	6. It's getting a little craycray in hurr

Chapter 6: It's getting a little cray-cray in hurr

'GET UP JAIME!' Lauren shouted as she bounced on her hands and knees on her friends occupied bed. 'WE'RE GOING TO ANIMAL KINGDOM!' She cartwheeled around the room with excitement before rolling to a stop at the foot of Meredith's bed. 'Mer, get up! We're going to be late!'

'We can't BE late Lauren!' Meredith sighed exasperatedly. 'It's a theme park, there's no set time!'

'There is by my watch!' Lauren said brightly before flinging open the curtains to flood the room with light. 'Hurry up!' She bounded out of the room and into the corridor. She paused for a moment before barrelling through the boys door. 'RIIIIISE AND SHIIIIIIIIINE!' She ducked as Joe Walker threw a pillow at her.

'Jesus Lauren, you're like a bloody fog horn!' Joey grumbled as he pulled him duvet over his head to shield the sunlight from his eyes. Slowly he sat up and stared around the room. 'Is anyone else up yet?'

'My room is, or if they aren't yet they soon will be!' Lauren laughed. She was so excitable when it came to rides.

'Why are you so hyper Lo? It's not like you're even tall enough to get on any of the ride- OUCH!' Brian yelled as Joe's pillow hit him hard in the face. 'Oh HELL no Lauren, you may have got us yesterday, but pillow fights are my GAME!' He lunged towards her, still holding the pillow and threw himself over Joeys bed.

Joey awoke from his doze and screamed as Lauren ripped the pillow from under his head, even more so when she began to beat Brian around the shoulders with it, being unable to reach his head.

This battle continued into the other boy's room, and simultaneously woke up the rest of the StarKids as the two bodies crashed to the floor.

'Next time, someone set an alarm clock' Nick moaned as Brian fell on his foot.

Joe Moses had gotten up to open the curtains and allow light in for people to survey the scene before them. He skidded to a stop before the pair who were still attacking each other, though now slightly half heartedly. He grabbed Brian's legs and pulled him off Lauren. Tyler got up and picked the small grumbling girl off the floor.

'Lauren, shut up! I thought you wanted to go? Is this helping at all?' Tyler said in a stern voice. His usual dazzling smile was replaced by a look of disappointment and annoyance. Lauren was not used to seeing him look this way, so mumbled an apology and left the room after hitting Brian once more with her pillow.

'Jeesh Ty, that's not like you!' Nick exclaimed.

Tyler turned to grin at them. 'I'm not really angry, I just wanted to see her reaction really!' He flashed a dazzling smile. 'I'm not surprised I managed to fool you, I mean, I AM an Actor!' He spun on the spot in a comical interpretation of a pirouette before finishing with a flourish. The effect was complete when he added jazz hands. Joe Moses and Brian fell about laughing whilst Nick rolled his eyes.

'Come on, get ready! Lauren WILL kill us if we keep her too long.' They began to pack up the things they need. They were just about ready when Jaime and Meredith burst into the room dressed in shorts, vest tops and over-sized sunglasses. Both were grinning.

'Nick, you might want to hurry up. Lauren's driving the bus.' Meredith said, suppressing a giggle at the look of horror that adorned his face.

'She's WHAT?' He yelled before taking off down the stairs at full speed. Lauren was NOT the best driver, and there had been countless occasions that had nearly gotten them killed. It was usually on account of Lauren's feet not being near enough the floor to reach the pedals. Nick was particularly familiar with this as she had actually crashed his car once before. Ever since he had refused to let her drive, or when she insisted refused to get inside the car.

He skidded down the drive way to see Lauren perched in the driver's seat, concentrating very hard on not crashing into a street lamp. The size of the minibus making her look even smaller, she looked too small to be allowed.

'LAUREN! STOP!' Nick yelled as he chased down the path. If he'd have looked back, he would have seen the other two girls in hysterics in the doorway, closely followed by the rest of the boys excluding Joe Moses, who was filming the entire episode from the upstairs window, and chuckling madly.

By the time the rest of the StarKids had joined them, Nick was pleading with Lauren from the road to get out of the bus. She was refusing, a defiant gleam in her eye as she reversed slowly up the drive.

'Get in losers, we're going shopping!' She shouted out the open window. Everyone piled in. Nick looked horrified.

'She's not actually driving us?'

'_She _has a name!' Said Lauren scathingly. 'And yes I am. Problem?' She grinned wickedly.

'Yes, the last time I went in a car with you, you crashed it and let not only yourself down when you realised how bad a driver you are, but also me when I didn't get any dinner because the grocery store closed before I could get another lift!'

'Well you know Nick, when life knocks you down, you gotta get back up!' Lauren began to hum the tune to the song, and before long the whole group had joined in. Brolden had taken the passenger seat and was directing and sometimes steering for Lauren. Nick was in his usual seat at the back, trying not to faint or throw up from panic. The others were spaced equally between.

Luckily for Nick, it was only a short journey as their villa was so near. There had been a few near-fights however, although surprisingly none among Joey and Meredith.

Joey had made sure to sit with Joe Walker between them and didn't make too much contact with her. Meredith in turn was a little upset, they had been getting on so well. Maybe too well she suddenly thought and realised that the kiss on her forehead the last night may not have been her imagination at all...


	7. More CrayCray

Chapter 7: More cray-cray

'WE'RE HERE! I'M SO EXCITED!'

Everyone looked around, a little shocked. Tyler was never one to shout, unless it was about dance, cake pops, Disney movies or FINDing things, but his excitement sent a ripple of anticipation through the coach.

Lauren parked up, almost killing a poor man dressed as a lion. She apologised from the open window, and received an angry retort about '12-year-olds being too young to drive.' He'd bitten off slightly more than he could chew with Lauren, which he regretted when the hopped out of the driver's seat and had a heated discussion, which involved some very colourful language. She placed her hands on her hips, which just added to the impression of her being an angry elf.

Brian was laughing from the bus with everyone else. There was something about Lauren. He couldn't quite put his finger on it though, it was certain times in the day when he saw her in a new light. It was never anything specific, sometimes a certain way she smiled, when she got angry and a little line creased the area between her eyebrows, the mad glint in her eye when she was thinking up a new idea. He wasn't sure what it did exactly, but it made something funny happen to his chest. He didn't think about it much, he only did now because it was happening. His chest constricted and his stomach dropped. To describe it sounds unpleasant, but it was actually a good feeling, like the one when you reach the edge of a drop on a rollercoaster and the only way is down.

He finally understood why people used the term 'falling for someone.' He wasn't entirely sure what he wanted, but Lauren was definitely a part of it.

All of them clambered out of the bus, Meredith pulling Lauren away from the angry Lion-man and dragging her towards the entrance. Jaime made sure the bus was locked and helped a very shaken Nick (he hadn't let go of the seat the whole time Lauren was driving) down from the back doors.

All of the StarKids mobbed towards the main ticket barrier, and there was a scene of general confusion over sorting out tickets. Lauren had to show her driver's licence to show she was over the age of 21. She was getting sick of all of this now, she didn't _feel _that short, but she supposed she was used to life at 5' tall.

Eventually they entered the park and all hell broke loose. They decided to split into two groups. Nick, Jaime and Tyler who were all exhausted just from looking at the others hyper-activeness decided to go on the Animal safari ride, to regenerate some energy before heading for the rides.

The other group which consisted of Brian, Lauren, Joey, Meredith and the Joes went straight for Dinoland. There was a natural break in the rides people would do. Although he hated to bring it up, Brian was awful with heights. He found flying in a plane terrifying, and that didn't even jerk around and go upside down. Lauren was fearless. She loved any kind of ride and would go on everything, as long as she was tall enough. The others fitted somewhere in between. Meredith was almost as crazy as Lauren with rides, and both of them went mental as they raced around the whole park with the others following in their wake.

Eventually they decided to try the Safari out. They were on benches of 2, and immediate squabbles broke out over who would sit with who. Lauren and Brian were flung to the back of the bus by the two Joe's, who took the seats in the middle of the truck. That left a very awkward Meredith and Joey to take the front seats.

'Hey, looks like it's us two then.' Said Joey, softly.

Meredith looked at him, he was giving her that adorable crooked grin that so many fangirls had fallen in love with. He was wearing that stupid blue headband, as always. This gave her a sudden desire to laugh, but she settled for a small grin and jumped over his lap saying: 'Shotgun this side!'

Joey laughed at her , he didn't know why they argued so much. Her huge brown eyes looked like melted chocolate and her curly hair bounced up and down in a ponytail as she turned and pointed excitedly out of the truck.

'LOOK, AN ELEPHANT!' came a yell from behind. The others turned around to see Lauren lying across Brian's lap in order to reach the window nearest the animal. She eventually gave up on this endeavour and climbed up to sit on Brian's lap. He hugged her around the waist, tickling her stomach. He kicked and struggled, having trouble breathing from laughing so much.

She's so tiny; Brian thought as he grasped his hands around her. When she's up and moving you don't realise quite how, _small,_ she is! Lauren turned to look at him and he grinned at her.

'Having fun, Lady Muck?' Brian asked sarcastically.

Lauren immediately pretended to be the Queen of England and waved regally out of the window at all the bewildered looking African animals from her perch on Brian's lap.

'Oh God Bri, now you've got her doing that bloody British accent again' Joe Walker groaned as he turned to look at the pair of them. Moses was filming the entire scene, laughing at his little friends stupidity. None of them could keep straight face for long. They were all good actors, but Lauren was unquestionable the funniest to watch. She became a character without even having to think about it, and was especially funny with accents and dialects. Ever since AVPM she had had a particular attachment to the British accent and had set phrases that she would say each time.

'Would anyone care for a spot of tea?' She asked, miming giving out cups. Joey and Meredith accepted their 'drinks' while laughing, and turned to face the front again. Joe Moses had decided to join Lauren, and was interviewing Joe Walker as Snape. Joe was trying, and failing to not laugh.

For the rest of the day Lauren spoke in her accent, refusing to touch the ground and forcing everyone to carry her. They met up with the other group who had had quite a relaxing day, but this all changed when Lauren demanded to be placed on Tyler's shoulders. He sighed and lifted her up.

'Happy now, Queen Lopez?' He said tiredly.

'That's Mrs Queen Lopez to you, peasant' she said snootily back.

'Watch it, I'll put you in a tree and leave you there!'

Lauren flicked him in the head and kicked his sides. 'ONWARDS, TO PIGFARTS. CHAAAAAAAAAARGE!' She screamed. Tyler galloped along the stretch of path, closely followed by Brian and Joe Walker who were carrying one another and Jaime who was on Joe Moses' back, laughing as he tried to keep up with everyone else.

Joey turned and grinned at Meredith, 'Your steed awaits' He raised an eyebrow questioningly at her. She jumped onto his back and took off at full speed after the other StarKids, leaving a bewildered Nick staring after them, looking amused.

It's a good thing they're gone! He thought to himself. He'd needed to make this call for a while now. He pulled out his phone and dialled a number.

'Hey, how are you doing?' He paused for a moment, listening to the excited babble on the other end of the phone. 'Great, so you'll be there in a couple of hours?' He paused again and a grin spread across his face. 'Excellent, see you later then!' He smiled to himself as he gathered up his things. There was a great surprise waiting for the other StarKids later that evening. He ran down the path after them, following the laughing and shouting of his best friends.


	8. SURPRISE!

Chapter 8: SURPRISE!

The giggling group of StarKids were replaying their favourite moments of the day at Animal Kingdom. Nick was driving the bus after refusing point blank to even get in the car of Lauren was in the drivers seat.

She hadn't minded, at that point she was still refusing to do anything for herself. Tyler lifted her into her seat when she shouted 'ONE MUST NOT TOUCH THE FLOOR, PEASANT, HOIST ME TO MY PLACE OF REST!'

Tyler could hardly carry her he was laughing so much. That was the problem with Lauren, no matter how annoying she was, she was so damn hilarious that you couldn't keep a straight face. JoMo was filming the conversation, but his body was contorting with laughter, so the filming was pretty shoddy.

Nick was getting impatient. 'RIGHT, GUYS SHUT UP A MINUTE!' He barked at the lot of them. The stress of organisation was getting to him, at least when they reached the villa he could stop being so uptight. He sighed when Laurens shoe flew past his head as Joe threw it, aiming for Brian.

'Nick, are you okay?' Jaime asked him quietly from the passenger seat. He smiled at her, she looked concerned.

'I'm fine Jaime Lyn, just stressed out.' He always made a point of calling her 'Jaime Lyn' in its entirety, or at least when he remembered. She liked it that way, and Nick always tried to do his best for everyone. Jaime looked at him steadily.

'What's up, Doc?' she smiled. 'You look tired, but you look a little agitated too. Can't wait to get back?'

'Can you shut them up?' Nick asked her. 'I've got something important to say.' He grinned at her, the first genuine smile she'd seen from him in days. She smashed her palm into the horn of the car, single handedly shutting up everyone in the back, who almost instantly began grumbling and rubbing their ears.

'Okay guys, Nick has something important to say, so shut up or I'll punch you in the face.' Jaime smiled wickedly at them and Lauren mumbled:

'I'd like to see you try.'

'Right then' Nick said hurriedly before any fight could break out between the two girls, Jaime Lyn had an evil glint in her eye as she surveyed the risk of following her words with actions. 'I have a surprise for you all when we get back to the villa.'

'What is it?' asked everyone in unison, all looking excited.

'I'm not telling you, then it wouldn't be a surprise dumbass!' Nick grinned at the expression on their faces. 'It'll be worth it, I promise!'

'I hope it's a puppy' Joey said, somehow managing to keep a straight face as the rest of the coach started chanting

'PUPPY, PUPPY, PUPPY, PUPPY!'

'Okay, none of you are finding out if you don't all shut up!'

Everyone fell silent instantly, they were all bug kids and a surprise of any kind was enough to hype them up to the extremes. Lauren was bouncing up and down on Brian's lap having exhausted speaking in a British accent but still refusing to sit on 'Peasant's land.'

The two Joes were conversing with Joey about what the surprise would be. None of them had a clue what it could be.

'Can you drive faster Nick?' Lauren pleaded. She loved surprises. She heard Brian chuckling at her enthusiasm and kicked him lightly in the shins. 'Shut up Bri, you're excited too!'

'Yeah, but you're mental for surprises, and stop bouncing on me! You've put on weight!'

She kicked him harder in the shins and said: 'It's all the crap I ate at Animal Kingdom. I swear I have about 12 pounds of shit in my stomach!' The bus lurched over a bump in the road and Lauren fell off Brian's lap and into the gap between the seats. The others helped her up when they stopped laughing at the sight of her sprawled on the ground.

'WE'RE BACK!' Lauren shouted as she clambered back into her own seat. She pressed her nose against the bus window, craning her head to see if the villa had changed at all.

'You'll have to be patient before I tell you the surprise.' Nick said, smiling. He liked having this power over his friends. There were general moans of dissent from the back.

The group all jumped out of the bus and went up the path. They decided to put of a film as it was already getting dark. They sat around the living room and got as comfortable as possible.

Meredith and Joey were squished on a large armchair that they had pushed round to be in front of the TV and were laughing about something or other. The sofa was occupied by Joe Walker, Jaime and Brian and then Lauren sitting across all three of them with her head in Brian's lap. He was absent-mindedly stroking her hair as she lay there. Joe Moses had unearthed some beanbags, and he was occupying one whilst Tyler lay across another, looking through all the DVDs.

Nick was upstairs. He was ridiculously excited about seeing the looks on their faces when they found out. He went downstairs and sat in the living room. He'd just sorted everything out. He tried to stop himself grinning so much.

'Can we order Pizza?' Joe Walker asked from the middle of the sofa.

'As long as we get a vegetarian option' said a voice from the doorway.

'Yeah, I mean vegetables are all so organic and beautiful, you know?'

The group turned in amazement to look at the open doorway.

'SURPRISE!' Yelled Julia, Darren and Nick at the same time.

'OH MY GOD!' Lauren screamed and ran to hug tackle Julia. Everyone rushed over to the pair of StarKids who were grinning like idiots around the room. There was a mad rush to hug them both and it ended up with everyone in a huge heap on the floor.

'Nick, you amazing, AMAZING person!' Meredith half-laughed, half-cried as she pulled him into a bear hug.

'You're a genius man!' JoMo laughed as he filmed the mass of StarKids who were still screaming on the floor.

Darren grinned from under Joey. 'I think they were surprised, Nicky.'

They all eventually got to their feet and laughed at the expressions on each others faces.

Julia and Lauren were both crying and hugging each other and Jaime was just looking round the room in a blissful daze. Darren pulled her into a hug. 'Hello Jaime Lyn!' He said as she hugged him back tightly.

'How the hell did you two get here?' She asked.

'Well, we took a plane. Walking would've taken a while' Julia answered from across the room, grinning over Laurens shoulder as the shorter girl clung to her friend. 'Lo, I saw you a fortnight ago, did you really miss me that much?'

Lauren laughed, but inside realised how much she had missed her friends. She had this feeling every time she didn't see them for a while. It happened most often with Darren, what with Glee and everything, but even then it was hard knowing she couldn't just knock on his door and see him like she had at Uni.

The group settled themselves in a slightly altered formation to before, somehow managing to squeeze in the extra people. Joe ran to the phone and ordered enough Pizza to fill a large car and they settled down to talk.

'Well, Nick rung me up and asked if I could spare a few days to come and surprise you!' Darren explained when they asked how he'd managed to come. 'I asked and they said it was fine. I should have a whole week off to be here!'

'What about you, Jules?' Meredith asked Julia, who was sitting on a beanbag and smiling fondly at the rest of the group.

'Well I'm just writing at the moment really, so I left it for a week to come and relax!'

Everyone laughed, and JoMo voiced what they all were thinking. 'Relax? Are you mad? Relax with us lot here?'

Julia laughed. 'Okay, well have a good time with my best friends in the whole world who I love dearly and miss every second of the day when I'm not with them.'

Lauren jumped off the sofa to hug her again. Darren grinned around at the excitable group. He'd been excited about this, not just coming back to Disney, which he obviously loved, but to see his friend and be just a normal, goofy guy again. Not having to worry about being in character, or the press or learning lines. He was with his family, he was home.

'So, where are we off to tomorrow?' Lauren asked, back on Brian's lap again.

Darren and Julia grinned at each other. They knew exactly where they would be taking the others.

'Well, I think it's time we went back to Hogwarts!' Darren said slowly.

He was looking forward to the surprise that HE had in store for them. Julia smiled to herself. Tomorrow was going to be even better.


	9. L, is for the way you look at me

Chapter 9: L, is for the way you look at me

The group decided to all sleep in the living room. None of them wanted to leave each other, even if it was only for the night.

It was a bit of a squeeze fitting everyone in, but they managed. Lauren and Brian shared the sofa. They were lying side-by-side, both facing the edge of the room. Brian had his arms wrapped around Laurens waist. He could smell her freshly washed hair, and every time she laughed or spoke to the others he felt vibrations travel through her body.

Lauren liked the feeling of Brian's arms around her. Being so small, she was used to people picking her up like she was a doll, but she lacked adult human contact sometimes, especially because of how childish her group of friends were. She loved them to pieces obviously, but it felt nice to be held by Brian, his arms wrapped loosely around her waist as she giggled at something Meredith had just said.

The others had pulled down the mattresses from their beds, and added with the bean bags had made some kind of nest in the centre of the floor. It was some kind of free-for-all down there. Darren and Joe Walker were chatting comically about something or other, lying in the centre of the soft pile. Julia and Jaime were sitting up, leaning against the armchair that was occupied by Joey and Meredith.

Joey was sitting comfortably, holding Meredith who was curled up in his arms. She in turn had her arms around him, one on his waist and the other resting gently on his leg. Joey fiddled with her hair until she batted his hand away, laughing about how he'd get it all knotty.

Tyler and Joe Moses were having a good-natured pillow fight in the corner of the room, which quickly encouraged disapproval from Nick, who had been trodden on as it became more active. The rest of the group decided to join in. Darren grabbed a pillow and with an evil glare swung it at Jaime's head. Teams began forming quickly and Julia attacked Darren in retaliation to his hit at Jaime.

Joey chucked a pillow, aiming for Tyler but ended up hitting Lauren instead. She looked around, furious, and ran at Joey who couldn't react before she jumped onto his back. He gave a yell as he tripped over a neglected pillow and they both crashed to the ground.

The pillow fight was temporarily forgotten as everyone bundled on top of the pair who were shaking with laughter on the ground. They finally got up, most complaining of a pain somewhere or other. Lauren claimed that Brian had trodden on her cheek when she fell, and so he apologised by kissing her where she said it hurt.

'Better?' he asked with a wink.

She tried, and failed to look disdainful and said stiffly; 'a little.'

Brian grinned at winked again, as Nick said they should all get some sleep.

They settled down again in a similar formation to before, although all out of breath. Lauren rolled over to face Brian on the sofa. 'I can't believe you trod on my face, Bri.' She said, half-serious.

'I'm sorry Lolo, you're just so little I didn't see you.'

He grinned as she kicked him under the duvet. 'I really am sorry Lo.' He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a kiss on the nose. Lauren didn't know how to react. She didn't really know how she felt. Brian was never usually this..well...touchy-feely. I mean, he always hugged her, but he'd never kissed her like that. Her brain was too scrambled from sleep deprivation to do much about it, so she contented herself with burrowing down under the covers, moving her head to lay across Brian's chest.

Brian stroked her back as she drifted off to sleep. He had no idea where he stood with her. He settled down, trying not to jostle Lauren too much.

Joey and Meredith were having a mumbled chat in the armchair. Meredith decided to ask the question that had been playing on her mind since the first night she'd been here.

'Joey?' She asked him tentatively.

'Mmhh?' He replied sleepily, stroking her back absent-mindedly.

'Did you kiss me on the first night here? On the forehead I mean, when you carried me up to bed?'

Joey froze. What the hell did he say to that? 'Um, yeah I think I did. Sorry Mer, I thought you were asleep.' What was he saying, that just made the whole thing sound a lot worse.

Meredith's heart beat faster s she thought about this. She had a weird feeling in her stomach which she associated with nerves and anticipation. 'No it's fine Joey, I was just wondering if I was going mad!'

'You don't mind then?' Joey asked, half regretting asking, scared of her answer.

'No, I don't. Night Joey-Joe.' She gently kissed him on the forehead and slid further down onto the armchair. Joey didn't move for a moment. He grinned to himself in the dark.

They had been speaking quietly, and only Darren overheard them from his new place on the floor by their feet. He smiled to himself. Joey and Meredith made a great pair, and Joey had obviously liked her for a while. Come to think of it, he did talk about her a lot and she was very pretty and extremely fun to be around.

Darren rolled over and settled down to sleep. He was looking forward to this surprise he had been planning. He knew the others would love it.

The group fell asleep one by one. Brian was the last awake. He lay there, looking at his friends who looked so peaceful. Lauren's eyelids fluttered as she dreamed, as an agitated look crossed her face momentarily. He gently pulled her hair away from her face and stroked her cheek. Her eyes opened the tiniest bit and she smiled at him.

'Go to sleep, Brian.'

He smiled at her. 'Sorry I woke you, Lo.'

She gave him a tight hug and fell asleep again, closer to him than before. Brian felt something he didn't usually feel. He looked down at the sleeping body beside him and as he saw her take deep breaths he felt himself fall a little bit harder.


	10. Is it a bird? A Plane? No, It's Lauren!

Chapter 10: Is it a bird? Is it a plane? NO! It's Lauren.

Lauren woke suddenly. She found it hard to stay asleep in the mornings. That wasn't to say she usually got up that early, but she'd lie in bed pondering the meaning of life, and what she was going to have for breakfast. Whilst on holiday, this changed.

Everyone was lying in a heap on the floor, save Meredith, Joey, Brian and herself. She looked down at her sleeping friends faces. They all looked so adorable! She smiled to herself before thinking of a horrible way to wake them up. Most people would have settled for jumping on the group, or screaming to scare the crap out of them, but Lauren was different. She wanted to do something that they definitely wouldn't forget.

Just as she turned to leave, Brian woke up. She silently placed a finger to her lips, and mouthed 'wait' as she turned.

She silently ran out the back door, 17 years of ballet had kept her light on her feet, not to mention tiny in frame, and ran to the wall opposite the pool. The turquoise water glittered in the morning sunlight, the day already shaping up to be pleasant. Lauren reached for the hose that was coiled like a snake on the large metal wheel connected to the wall. She pulled it as gently as she could and it began to unwind and gather in concise circles at her feet.

She turned the squeaky tap round until it was on full blast, but not opening the nozzle at the end of the hose. She ran back into the living room holding the pipe between her small hands. She laid it on the ground and ran around to the side of the room Joe Moses was sleeping on.

JoMo was deeply asleep, lying across Tyler's chest, which Lauren couldn't quite stifle a giggle at. She grabbed his camera, took a quick snap of the two of them sleeping before putting it on a coffee table out of harms way. She switched the mode to 'record' and pressed start. Quietly she mimed for Brian to get out of the way, he immediately complied, shaking with suppressed giggles at the thought of the others reaction to this unusual wake-up call.

Walking back to the hose pipe she picked up the end slowly, motioning for Brian to stand behind her. Cautiously, she turned the nozzle to 'on' and set it to sprinkler mode. The effect was instantaneous. Lauren directed the stream of water to the group of people lying in the centre of the floor. Each woke with a yell, rolling and crashing into each other in their hurry to get out of the firing range of the cold water. Joe Walker swore loudly as he rubbed his eyes, soaked to the skin. Julia and Jaime were halfway between laughing and crying, standing arms outstretched in the falling water. Joe Moses and Tyler had banged heads and were clutching at their skulls as they raced to find shelter.

Joe Walker came barrelling towards Lauren, who turned the mode of the hose to 'jet'. This had the desired affect when the water hit Joe full in the face. Darren had tripped over Nick and fallen onto the chair that Meredith and Joey occupied. Joey yelled as Darren's wet clothing began to drip onto him and Meredith, trapped by Darren's weight, was too shocked to do much.

Nick somehow ran out of the room and turned the pipe off at the outside tap. Lauren looked sheepishly around at her friends, whose expressions ranged from amusement, to annoyance to malice. Joe Walker advanced towards Lauren, a look of determination on his face.

Lauren bolted upstairs and the rest of the group followed, including Brian who was interested to see how this would all pan out. Joe was shouting up at Lauren.

'You can hide, but you can't run, unless you can get through walls!'

Lauren was screaming something unintelligible back, and a door flew open at the top if the stairs.

'Where you gonna go now Lauren?' Joe asked mockingly. She stared him in the eyes, smiling. Joe had picked up the video camera that was still recording when he ran after her, and was walking into the room as she retreated, backing her into the window.

'What are you going to do to me?' Lauren asked. She wasn't scared, she knew he'd never actually hurt her, but humiliation was something she didn't deal too well with.

'Oh, not much' Joe grinned. The rest of the StarKids gathered at the doorway, unsure as to whether they should enter. Lauren looked to them and saw Brian motioning a movement subtly with his hand. She was gesturing first to her, then the window, then down.

Lauren suddenly twigged. 'Well, whatever it was, you'll have to wait because I've got to go.' She spun on her heels and leapt through the open window before sprinting across the flat roof and flinging herself off the edge. Julia and Darren raced into the room, a look of horror adorning each of their faces.

'It's fine Juls, Dare. She jumped into the pool.' Jaime consoled her friends who looked on the verge of having a heart attack.

'It's not too big a jump, but Lauren's smaller than I am.' Meredith said, interestedly. Brian raced downstairs and outside to see bubbles emanating from an impact. Lauren burst through the surface of the water and took a huge gasp of air.

'IT'S OKAY GUYS, I'M ALIVE!' She yelled, trying to keep herself afloat.

'That's a shame!' She heard Joey say from the top floor. She made an obscene gesture in their vague direction, to which she heard laughs, before swimming towards Brian. He held out a towel to her, but she was finding it a struggle to even climb out of the pool herself. Brian lifted her out carefully and wrapped the towel around her.

'You're shivering, Lo.'

'It's a little cold in there, especially this early!' She remarked, allowing Brian to take her in his arms and try to rub her dry. She was shivering badly, so the two of them went inside.

'Well, now that's over, anyone for pancakes?' Julia asked brightly as the group trooped downstairs.

'YES!' They all said excitedly and Jaime hurried to help with the preparation. They had both changed into dry clothes as had most of the others. Joe Walker and Lauren, who were both absolutely soaked, decided to shower before eating, so went upstairs to get ready, squabbling over who had won their stupid little competition.

Everyone else turned to Darren.

'So, where are we going today D?' Asked JoMo, shovelling pancakes into his mouth.

'Ahh, I think you'll know it.' He said, with the cheeky smile they so often saw on Glee. 'We're going-'

'BACK TO HOGWARTS!' Lauren and Joe Walker sang as they entered the kitchen, showered and dressed in dry clothes.

'Are you tow psychic, or just lucky?' Darren asked, curiously.

'I'm a genius.' Lauren said, as she danced through the kitchen, somehow managing to fill a plate with pancakes whilst pirouetting. Tyler laughed and joined in the random dancing as he went up for seconds.

'Nah, I think lucky is more accurate.' Tyler said, with a grin as he pulled Lauren to stand on his feet and danced with her. Her size meant that even on his feet she didn't quite reach his shoulders. He spun her around the kitchen and onto her chair. Everyone applauded the tow of them. Their amazing, crazy friends.

'Anyway.' Darren said, bringing the focus back onto the task at hand. 'There is a magical place, one most if not all of us have visited, and I think we're going to have a pretty good day.'

'My friends, I think we're going back!' Said Tyler from across the table, to which everyone laughed.

'We're going back to Hogwarts.' Darren confirmed as the group began to chatter excitedly. He looked around at his friends, they didn't even know the best part yet. He felt Julia's eyes on him and turned to look at her. She gestured minutely at Nick, who was smiling, but not at everyone else. He was reading a text and Darren could tell it was from Matt. They hadn't seen each other in quite a while, and the two brothers were really close. He hoped Nick would cheer up a little, and sure enough he did. By the time they were all ready to leave he was hyped up enough that the smile he had been wearing all week finally reached his eyes.

The group piled into the bus, all except Joe Moses and Jaime who were driving in the car Julia and Darren had rented. Darren turned from the front seat to grin at his friends. They looked back excitedly, bristling with anticipation. Julia was grinning. She knew how much more excited the group would become when they found out EXACTLY what they would be doing that day.

Nick looked at Darren from the driver's seat. Darren punched his arm lightly.

'Okay buddy?'

'Yeah, I'm good.' Replied Nick, grinning. 'When we get there, I'll calm down a bit. The bus is always full of crazy!'

Darren didn't doubt the last fact, but he thought Nick might be even less calm when they arrived at Universal studios.

'Well, let's get going then!' Darren said, turning to face the front. This was going to be _totally _awesome.


	11. Jump or fall

**Authors note: **Hi there, it's Charlie.

This is just a quick note to say that I will not be able to update this story for a week or so, I'm away. Very sorry. Also, I know I said the next surprise would be revealed in this chapter, that just didn't work out so you'll have to wait, yet again, I apologise. Thank you for all the reviews, it means so much that you all actually read my ramblings. So, I shall update asap when I get back. Hugs and butterfly kisses.

Chapter 11: Jump or Fall

The drive to Universal was short, but eventful. Darren had them singing all the songs from their musicals, and asking the strangest people to fill in the parts. This was particularly amusing when Meredith had to fill in for Dylan's Dumbledore, and when her and Nick were gazing lovingly into each others eyes when singing 'The way I do.'

They arrived at the gates just as they had finished a somewhat remedied version of 'Harry Freakin' Potter' and all raced inside. They saw the Hogwarts castle and all of them stopped. They'd forgotten quite how amazing it was, the feeling of home and excitement flooding through them. Meredith silently took held of Joey's hand. He didn't look down, but he felt a warm feeling creep up from his chest which was not unpleasant at all. He squeezed back.

Lauren and Brian were the first to recover the hyper active behaviour they had encompassed on the journey there. They raced ahead, laughing, with Lauren tugging on Brian's arm. He swung her round fast, before letting her go to fly into Joe Walkers arms who was waiting to catch her.

Lauren looked at Joe and a silent understanding flitted between their gazes. Joe grabbed one of Lauren's hands, she crossed her arms and clasped his other in hers. A short leap with one foot onto his knee and she swung around his back, landing with her legs wrapped around his hips and they both yelled;

'CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!' before speeding forwards. Brian grinned, they looked so funny like that, but he couldn't quite knock a different feeling. It took him a while to realise it was jealousy.

_Jealousy._ What was wrong with him? Jealous of _JOE? _There had never been anything between him and Lauren, although most people thought there had been, yet he still felt fiercely protective over her. What was going on in his brain lately. He shook his head and ran after the group.

Darren had been watching Brian while the group laughed at Lauren and Joe. He could see something flit across his face when he looked at the two who were laughing ahead. Darren and Brian had always been close, they could talk about pretty much anything and he knew something was up. He decided to ask him about it later.

Darren followed Brian's gaze to see if he could make out what was wrong. Brian was staring at Joe and Lauren with that same, hard expression on his face but when Lauren ran back to him, and took his hand to pull him to something she wanted him to see, his entire body and face relaxed to be replaced with a brilliant smile.

Darren almost keeled over in shock. Brian fancies _Lauren? _Woah, this was definitely something he hadn't seen coming. Ah well, they'd always got on well. He carried on walking.

The group headed straight towards Hogwarts, and all started pestering Nick and Julia about where they wanted to go. 'YOU'RE ALL LIKE NEEDY CHILDREN!' Julia yelled over the shouting StarKids. Lauren and Brian played up to this by hugging one of Julia's legs each, forcing her to drag them around if she wanted to move. 'Darren, help!' Julia begged him as the two around her legs nearly pulled her onto the floor.

Darren stepped forward, grinning. He neatly extracted Lauren from Julia's leg whilst Joe Moses picked up Brian. Darren threw Lauren towards Brian, who caught her looking a bit stunned.

'You two children play nicely, okay?' Darren said and Brian could've sworn he saw D wink at him as her turned around. Lauren grinned up at Brian, he looked into her brown eyes and for a minute forgot how to breathe. Why was this happening? He could so do without unrequited love while they were supposed to be having fun!

In turn, Lauren looked at Brian. He looked so intense for once, she'd never seen him look this way before. She felt something stir in her chest and automatically moved to get out of his arms, she didn't want to make him uncomfortable. She off balanced slightly and nearly toppled all the way out of his arms, but he tightened his grip on her, smiling as she gasped.

'Almost lost you there Lauren' He winked. She stuck her tongue out, but not in a mean way.

'As much as I HATE to interrupt this romantical scene, we have to get a move on.' Darren was laughing at the expressions on his two friends face. Lauren was puzzled, romantic? Brian? He's just having a laugh she thought. This realisation sent a shiver of something through her. She looked up at Brian, who though glaring daggers at Darren, was blushing. _Blushing! _Oh my god, what? Lauren was entirely confused now. Brian DID like her? Woah, this was too much information to take in in one go.

The rest of the group were watching with interest. All except Joey, who was secretly hoping with all his might that Darren wouldn't notice anything about him and Meredith. He'd have to have a chat with him, soon. Darren himself was happy. He took delight in making his friends feel uncomfortable, especially when he hadn't seen them for so long.

Lauren walked next to Brian, swinging her arms casually she said 'soooooooo, romantical?' she glanced sideways to catch his reaction. Brian stiffened slightly before turning to face her.

'Definitely.' He said, grinning. He pulled her into his arms and swung her round before planting a kiss right on her lips. Lauren laughed at the expressions on her friends faces, and smiled at Brian when he put her down.

'You're an idiot' she giggled. Brian was kicking himself. How was it he was more confident when he played someone else? He'd actually shown his true feelings but hidden them behind a stupid act.

Lauren was thinking hard. She knew Brian had been joking when he kissed her, but she had noticed something. When his lips touched hers she had felt a leap in her chest. It wasn't because she was being swung through the air (although she DID hate that), it was happy, nice. She looked at Brian who was talking to Joey in a corner. The two of them glanced in her direction and quickly looked away when they saw she was watching.

There's definitely something up Lauren thought to herself. She knew it was up to her to bridge the gap. She could pretend like nothing happened, and go on as she always had with Brian being her best friend. Before the holiday she'd have automatically chosen this option, but then she'd never even thought that there COULD be something between the two of them. Now she faced the other, scarier option. She could pursue her feelings. She remembered him gripping her hand on the plane, laughing with her in the bus, talking late into the night with his arms around her, kissing her softly before she slept. She hadn't thought too much of it, but now, looking at the bigger picture she knew there was nothing she could do. She had to make the decision of what she wanted. There could be two outcomes, she had to decide whether to jump or fall.


	12. Yet another surprise

**Authors note: **Sorry for the humongous delay in writing/ posting this. I have no excuse other than that I've been away, and then had Art exams and what-not. I'll try and update as much as possible, but my proper exams start in May, so there will be another gap, which I apologise for. I'll try and stagger updates if I can. Thank you for sticking with this story! I smile every time I get an email saying someone has reviewed/ subscribed it and it really makes my day! So yeah, thank you, and I'll actually start writing now. – Charlie x

Chapter 12

Lunch time came around quickly, far too quickly for the StarKids to like. They'd all run around like headless chickens, hyper on sweets, butterbeer and a tonne of other junk food.

'Lauren, how are you not the size of a HOUSE?' Jaime asked indignantly as Lauren shoved a fifth doughnut into her mouth.

She grinned, the jam dripping through her teeth, before splattering all over the floor when she laughed at Jaime's disgusted expression. She hadn't spoken to Brian since earlier that day. It wasn't awkward, but she knew that the next time she spoke to him would mean discussing their 'feelings' and Lauren wasn't good at that. Sure, she could have audiences in tears with laughter but that was as someone else. Brian was one of the people who knew her best, and he knew that she was bad with this sort of stuff. She guessed that was why he wasn't pushing her.

Brian hadn't got a clue what was going on. Did Darren _know? _He hoped not, but the sneaky looks he kept slipping him told otherwise. He needed to talk to him pretty soon if he was going to control this story.

Meredith and Joey were keeping distance from each other. They had come to a mutual understanding with a single glance that flaunting their relationship AT ALL in front of Darren was definitely not the best way to go. They'd like to keep their dignity thank you very much.

Darren gestured at the group to stop walking. They were by a stage that was used for presentations and acts in the evenings, but at that point was cleared entirely. Darren told everyone to sit down, and that he had some important news. 'Now, you lot, shut up please thank you nicely.' The group turned to look at him.

'I know you all think you know why you're here today.' Darren continued, catching every persons eye for a time before moving on. 'Yes, it's a very cool place to go and have fun and stuff, but Julia and I have a surprise.'

'Another surprise?' Joe Moses asked interestedly. This was rare, Darren was such a blabber-mouth that nothing stayed secret for more than a few seconds with him.

'Yes.' Darren nodded seriously, winking at Julia who was giggling at the back of the group. 'A very nice surprise. Would you like me to explain it?'

'YES.' Said everyone except Nick, who was staring at something over Darren's shoulder.

'Well, all I can tell you is that it's going to be great!' came a voice from behind Darren, the point that Nick had been watching. Matt Lang stood there, but not for long as a bundle of limbs, which turned out to be Nick, flung himself towards his brother.

The whole group exclaimed with excitement and joined in the group bundle. 'This isn't even the surprise!' came Matts muffled voice from the bottom of the pile.

'OKAY GUYS' Julia yelled over the excited laughter and chat. 'We have to get down to business, you are singing on that stage in approximately 4 hours!'

The group simultaneously turned to look at her incredulously. She grinned and took a step back.

'What are we singing?' Lauren asked in a small voice.

'EVERYTHING!' Said Matt, Darren and Julia together.

'So we've got to get started NOW, because there are some new arrangements of things that you guys need to learn. That's why I'm here, I wrote the script and brought over the music that Dare's been working on for the last few months.' Matt said sombrely.

The next few hours went by in a blur. There was so much to do in such a short space of time, but they all rose to the challenge magnificently. Around them, the stage area transformed from a desolate group of benches to a night-time wonderland. Fairy lights illuminated the scene, a huge purple banner with the StarKid logo on was hung across the stage, and there was an excited hum from outside the closed gates where people were already queuing.

'I need to pee!' Lauren said, trying to see over the top of the fence and into the crowd. Tyler hoisted her so that she was standing on him shoulders, making her about 10 feet tall. 'I'm so nervous!'

'Why Lo?' Tyler said gently. 'You'll knock 'em dead, you always do sweetie.'

'Yeah, but I usually vaguely know what I'm doing!' She replied with a small, scared laugh. She could hear Jaime and Meredith practicing the new harmonies for one of the rearranged songs and felt a lurch in her stomach. Stage fright. No one knew how nervous she got before shows, she could always hide it well, but this was a different matter. She had only had four hours to prepare, and there were cracks appearing in her performance. She climbed down from Tylers shoulders and he gave her a quick hug.

She smiled at him before running off to find Brian. He was the only person she could think about explaining this too. She ran past a corridor backstage, before skidding to a stop and rocketing back in the other direction. Brian was down at the end, looking for something on the floor.

'Bri, can I talk to you a minute?' Lauren said breathlessly.

'Sure thing Lo.' He said, smiling, 'but can you help me find something first, I've dropped it.'

'What is it?' Lauren asked, peering at the dark floor.

'You remember that bracelet you gave me when you got back from that trip with your family? The leather band? Well, that. I haven't taken it off since then and I need it for luck.'

Lauren felt a warm glow spread through her chest. He'd kept it? 'Bri, I gave that to you over a year ago! You didn't have to wear it all this time!'

'I know, but I wanted too.' He grinned at her and she smiled back, eyes twinkling. 'Anyway, we can talk while we look if you want?' He watched her face carefully, and saw her pause as if contemplating what to say.

'Nah, it's fine. I've forgotten anyway.' She said. Although of course she hadn't. 'Wait, here it is!' She said triumphantly, holding up the leather band. She re-tied it around his wrist, doubly tight at Brians request.

'Right, you ready to show 'em what we're made of?' Brian said as they walked to the wings of the stage.

'Not really, but as ready as I'll ever be!' She replied. They waited a few more seconds, Lauren could hear the crowds pouring in, chatting excitedly about the show and how good the performances were going to be. Lauren heard all this and was empty inside. They were all waiting for a performance that she wasn't sure she could deliver. What if she forgot her words? What if she tripped? What if she forgot the dance moves? All these thoughts swirled around her head and she grabbed Brian's hand to keep herself from falling over.

He squeezed it gently. 'Okay, Lo?' He asked.

'Yeah, just went a bit funny there!' She smiled, but he noticed it didn't reach her eyes.

'You'll be fine Lauren, you always are.' He gave her a quick hug, and as they pulled apart he heard her whisper;

'I love you Bri.'

'I love you too Lolo, now let's rock this!'

The music started and dry ice filled the stage. The pair dropped hands and Brian pushed Laurens hair out of her face. 'You ready to go?' He sang at her. She stuck her tongue out and gave him a light shove.

'Get out there you eejit!' she laughed. He pulled a face and walked out onto the centre of the darkened stage. She followed, heart beating fast, her mouth dry as sandpaper and her stomach full of butterflies. She could do this. She always did. She hardened her resolve and turned to face the audience as the lights came up.


	13. Well here goes nothing

Chapter 13: Well here goes nothing.

The lights came up on the front of the stage, keeping the audience in darkness as the music began. The whole cast, excluding Darren, Joey and Meredith were lined up at the back of the stage in the absolute blackness. From the far end of the line, Lauren saw Tyler's teeth glinting.

That boy had the whitest smile she'd ever seen. His teeth must be radioactive she thought to herself. Brian was to her immediate left, she smiled in his general direction, before remembering he couldn't see her.

Darren walked on to wild applause. The whole line of StarKids rolled their eyes. He started the first song, which of course, was Going back to Hogwarts. The crowd went wild, even more so when Joey bounded on stage singing like an adorable chipmunk. His crooked smile widened even more when Meredith, filling in as Hermione, walked on and joined the duo.

The first few verses went without a hitch. Tyler burst in right on cue, declaring his love for Julia who was playing Cho. Lauren was internally freaking out. She managed to calm herself enough to come in at the right point. She'd decided just before the show to pull on her blonde wig, she found it easier to think rationally when she could be more in character. As usual, she worried for nothing. The whole first act went perfectly, the mini-sketches in the middle of songs, the songs themselves all went without a hitch. The actors swapped roles so naturally that it was hard to remember anyone else having played them.

'Ready to go' was a highlight of the evening. Everyone performed exceptionally and the new harmonies were the best they'd ever been. It ended the first half with a bang and the group of StarKids chattered as they wandered backstage, randomly hugging each other and in between stages of laughing and crying. Lauren ran up to Brian and gave him a huge hug, which he returned gladly.

Joe Walker, JoMo and Jaime were discussing the moves for stutter that was after the interval, Jaime had sung her best and even she was pleased with her performance. Nick and Matt were rushing about, making last minute adjustments to people before shouting that they were starting in 2 minutes. All of them hurried to their places for the first number of the second half, Not Alone.

Jaime took to the stage and stood in the darkness with her eyes closed, listening to the sounds of the crowd who hushed each other as the audience lights dimmed. The piano music started up and a rush of excitement rippled through the crowd at the recognition of the song. Jaime began to sing, her distinctive voice rising up and turning the beautiful melody into something new and exciting. When Darren joined I, the audience were so silent you could have heard a pin drop. Joey and Meredith completed the quartet and the new harmonies swirled around them, creating the magic that had started their whole journey.

By the end of the song every person in the vicinity was wiping away tears. Backstage both Joes ran to Jaime and hugged her tightly. 'You were AMAZING Miss Jaime Lyn!' Walker said, picking her up and swinging her round.

'TOTALLY.' Joe Moses agreed, grinning at her over Joe's shoulder.

'Come on guys, it's Stutter now!' Joey bounded over.

The group re-entered the stage to wild applause, Darren did some impromptu chats to engage the audience before handing over to Joe.

_Remember that time?_

_When you wouldn't talk to me,_

_When you wouldn't talk to me,_

_Yesterday._

Slowly, the rest of the StarKids entered until they were lined up behind Joe, and as the main part of the song began, they started the perfectly synchronised dance moves that Tyler had spent the previous hours creating. It was brilliant, every single person had a fantastic time and it was evident in their smiling faces.

As the show drew to a close, each StarKid felt the tug that this caused them. This was why they did what they did, this feeling. The lights came down and the show was over. In the semi-darkness backstage everyone was hugging one another, tears streaming down their faces at the pent up emotion they had been feeling released. It was late now, about 11pm and the StarKids were tired and overly emotional. Matt offered to drive as he hadn't performed, and Brian said he'd drive the car. Lauren offered to go with him and the others took the minibus.

Just as they left it started to rain, and being Florida, this meant tropical storm type weather. Brian started the car and attempted to follow the minibus through the torrential downpour. Lightning lit the sky as the rain beat persistently against the bonnet of the car, making any conversation at normal levels impossible.

'Holy crap, I can't see a thing!' Brian yelled.

'I know, this is cray-cray alright!' Lauren replied, peering as best as she could through the windscreen.

Brian couldn't help but laugh at her and her crazy adaption of the English language. 'What?' Lauren asked, smiling at him as he laughed.

'Just you!' He replied. She looked indignantly at him, which made him laugh even more. 'You know what I mean Lo, you're just so funny!' He was still shouting to be heard over the rain and thunder now rolling over them. They were directly beneath the storm.

Suddenly a flash of lightning lit the road in front of them. A dog ran out in front of the car, and with a yell, Brian swerved to avoid it. The car slid off the road and hurtled down a gorge that ran alongside it. Lauren screamed and grabbed onto Brian as the car rolled to the bottom. Brian, who had been trying to control the car, gave up on this endeavour and reached across to hold Lauren, who in turn gripped him just as tightly back.

'Oh my god, Lo, are you okay?' Brian asked frantically, undoing her seatbelt for her and checking her over for any sign of injury, coming to the conclusion that there was nothing seriously wrong.

'I'm fine Bri!' Lauren coughed, 'Although I'm not sure the car is.' She looked worriedly out of the windows. 'And I'm not sure how we're going to get back.'

Brian followed her gaze out into the night. The storm was still relentlessly drenching everything and the wind was picking up. Brian turned up the heating in the car and pulled out his mobile.

'Damn, the signal's been knocked out by the storm!' Lauren checked hers.

'Brilliant. Neither of us have signal, we're in a car that can't go anywhere and we're miles from home.' Lauren looked on the brink of tears and Brian leant across the middle of the car, bridging the gap between them and pulling her into a tight hug.

'It's going to be okay Lo' He whispered into her hair as he felt her tears roll over his shoulders. He looked around. He knew he should be scared, worried or anxious, but he wasn't. Because he knew Lauren was safe, with him, and at the moment that was all that mattered.


	14. A very eventful evening

Chapter 14: A pretty eventful evening

The other StarKids were all rather subdued in the bus on the way back. Meredith was curled up, sleeping against Joey who was stroking her hair. Darren was chatting to Julia, who were both delighted at how well the surprise had turned out.

Matt and Nick were sitting in the front catching up. Nick finally looked entirely happy and everyone was glad. Jaime was yawning, stretching out over the two Joes to sleep. Tyler was resting with his headphones in in Nicks usual seat.

'They're not behind us anymore guys' Matt murmered.

'I'm sure…they'll be fine' Jaime yawned again. 'Brian's not an idiot, he knows how to get back here.'

The minibus pulled into the drive and the StarKids piled out sleepily and walked up to the front door. As soon as they were inside, Julia and Tyler offered to make hot chocolate before they went to bed and everyone accepted. They settled in the living room, huddled under blankets and listened to the storm raging outside.

Julia was speaking to Tyler in the kitchen. 'I'm getting worried now, they were only a minute behind us Tyler.'

'I'm sure they'll be fine Juls.' He replied, but he didn't look convinced.

Meanwhile, Lauren and Brian had migrated to the backseats of the car, and pulled an old blanket over the two of them. Lauren was lying with her head in Brian's lap, tears still glimmering on her cheeks though she had stopped crying.

'It's weird seeing you cry, Lo.' Brian said absent-mindedly, looking straight ahead. Lauren stayed still for a while. Eventually she sat up.

'Why?' She asked, looking straight at him. Brian tried to avoid her gaze. This was a hard enough question without being distracted by her face.

'You're always so strong. You're not afraid of anything and I guess it's strange to see the other side of that.' Lauren thought about this for a few minutes without saying anything. Brian didn't interrupt.

'You know earlier, when I came to find you because I had something to say?' Brian nodded, wondering where this was going. 'It was because I needed someone to calm me down. You were the first person I thought of and I knew you'd help me.'

'Why did you need calming down Lauren? What happened?' Brian asked. He was entirely lost now, had something bad happened before the show?

'I was scared Brian. I was terrified about going on stage in front of that audience, when we'd only had 4 hours of practice and new harmonies and dances. I was so scared. I froze up, I couldn't think straight. I mean, it happens before most performances but usually I've had time to get used to the feeling and not let it take me over, but I was so under prepared this time.' Her voice shook on the last word and tears leaked from under her eyelids again.

Brian leant back. This was too much to take in. Lauren had _Stage fright?_ She was possibly the best actress he knew, she was fearless, every single person who met her loved her. She got the loudest laughs, the biggest cheers, yet she was still this insecure about herself?

'Lauren, you have stage fright?' She nodded, leaning her head against the cold window, looking out into the rain. 'But…why? You're amazing Lo, everyone loves you! You're perfect for every role you've ever played, you've never done anything wrong, how can you not see how amazing you are?'

Lauren closed her eyes. Oh god. Why did he have to say exactly the right thing? She looked at him. 'You really believe in me that much?'

He looked at her incredulously. 'Of course I do! Lauren, you're amazing. You are one of the most brilliant girls I've ever met. I'm proud to call you my best friend Lo.'

She gave a watery smile and shuffled closer to him. 'Thank you' she whispered, putting her head on his shoulder. He felt her small hand grab his under the blanket and his heart leapt.

'Brian.' Lauren said seriously. 'What was Darren on about when he was talking about something _romantical _between us?'

Brian closed his eyes and groaned internally. This was going to be interesting.

Back at the StarKids villa, things were starting to get difficult. Brian and Lauren had been apart from them for nearly 2 hours. 'Where are they?' Joey asked, frustrated. He looked angry, but they knew he was just worried.

Joe and Joe were discussing whether to take the bus and look for them.

'There's no point' Jaime said from the corner of the room. 'You'd never see anything in this storm.'

'Well, we can't just LEAVE them!' Meredith cried, looking in danger of bursting into tears. Joey put his arm around her and squeezed gently.

'They'll be fine, Mer.' He whispered softly into her hair as she hugged him tightly back.

Darren was agitatedly pacing in the hall, looking out the window for any signs of them returning. 'Has anyone tried calling them?' He asked nervously, looking as lightning flashed across the sky.

'Yes. There's no signal because of the storm.' Julia said and Jaime nodded. Darren grunted in frustration. Brian was one of his closest friends and Lauren was like his little sister.

'At least they're together' he said, half to himself and half out loud. 'Brian won't let anything happen to Lauren on his watch.'

They settled down again, but not for long. Nick and Matt had been very quiet all evening, they were both in shock at the very real possibility that something had happened to two of their best friends. Jaime said what everyone was thinking. 'What if their car skidded off the road, or they got hit?' Her voice cracked on the last word.

'No, they'll be fine.' Tyler said, sounding more authoritative than he felt. 'I guess they just didn't want to drive in the storm, that car's quite small and they probably stopped off at a diner until it eases off.'

No one believed his comforting words, however much they wanted to. After about 5 minutes Joe Moses stood up. 'I can't take this, I'm going to look for them.' He strode out of the room and grabbed the keys for the bus. Tyler and Joe Walker went to follow.

'We'll all go.' Said Meredith.

'No, people need to stay here in case they get back before us, or if we need to call the…anyone.' Nick said, trailing off.

The two Joes, Tyler and Matt decided to go whilst the rest stayed at the villa. Meredith curled up on the sofa with Joey, her eyes reflecting the light from the fire they had lit. Joey was nervously twiddling his thumbs, Jaime sat on the floor, knees up to her chin, eyes closed. Darren was pacing again, Nick continuing to ring the two who were lost, in case the signal came back. Julia was wandering around picking up things only to replace them where she found them.

The boys in the bus retraced their route from earlier. 'You don't think they HAVE gone off the road, do you Moses?' Joe asked.

'I hope not. I'm sure they'll be fine.' Then 'Take a left here Ty.'

Tyler swung the bus around and they continued in the opposite direction. 'They weren't behind us from about here.' Walker said, keeping an eye out through the rain.

Lauren was curled up against Brian's side. 'I'm not sure what he meant by that Lauren, I guess he was joking because we looked…you know, cute?'

Lauren laughed. 'Probably. Well, we do make a pretty cute couple I guess.' She looked at him. He looked back, somewhat startled. 'What do you think?'

Brian just stared at her. 'Cat got your tongue?' Lauren asked, smiling. Brian was just about to say something when she kissed him. It was just a gently kiss on the lips, but the emotion behind it was evident to anyone. Brian's heart felt like it was about to explode, and Laurens stomach was doing backflips. She pulled away and they stared at each other for a few moments.

The storm was blowing itself out now, the time neared 3 am and Lauren and Brian had settled down to sleep in the back of the car. Nothing else had happened between them other than speech. The rain had turned to drizzle and the thunder had subsided. A single set of headlights was evident from the road near them, getting closer and closer, but with both of them sleeping, Lauren curled up with Brians arms draped protectively round her, neither of them saw until the van was nearly on top of them.

'Dude, that's them!' Joe Moses said, pointing down a gorge to their left. Tyler swung the bus round and hurtled down the gorge. He skidded to a stop right in front of the car and jumped out in one fluid movement. The two Joes weren't far behind.

Lauren and Brian woke to the tapping on the window. It was still dark, but they could just make out the outline of 3 people. The headlights were dimmed and they could see the light reflecting off someone's teeth. _Tyler._

Lauren yelled and opened the door before shaking Brian awake. 'They're here, Bri they've found us!' she squealed before throwing herself into Tyler's arms. Joe and Joe pulled Brian out and hugged him.

'You scared us dude!' Walker said to Brian, before running round to hug Lauren, who was crying again. The five of them bundled into the bus, they'd come back and get the car as soon as they could. There was still no signal, so they had no way to tell the others they were fine.

All of them were so emotional and sleep deprived that there were a lot of tears, even more so when the bus pulled up outside the open front door, and a shaken and sleepy Brian and Lauren were submerged in a group hug from their friends, all ecstatic to see them alive and in one piece.

The pair quickly explained what had happened before crawling into their beds. All in all, it had been a pretty eventful evening.


	15. Food, Glorious food!

Chapter 15: Food, glorious food

Everyone slept late the next day. Lauren woke up to the sun streaming through the open window. She snuggled down further under her duvet, being so small she was entirely obliterated by what looked like a huge fluffy marshmallow. She yawned and sat up. The storm had completely blown itself out, it was a hot summer day.

She slipped out of bed, noticing that everyone else was already up, she could hear happy shouts from downstairs. She padded down the corridor to the boys room and tentatively pushed the door open.

Only Brian was in there, still asleep. She made to shut the door when she heard him say; 'Lo, 's that you?' she pushed the door open again and walked over to sit on Joeys vacated bed.

'Yeah, you okay Bri?' She grinned at him as he rubbed his eyes, trying to block the bright sunlight.

'Well, I'm better now I'm home! You okay? Not hurt?' Lauren shook her head.

'A little sore and bruised, but nothing life threatening. You?'

'Meh, much the same.' He smiled at her. 'Shall we go downstairs then?' Lauren nodded again and they both got up. They walked towards the door, but as Brian made to walk through Lauren blocked it with her arm.

'Erm…' she said nervously. 'Thank you Brian. For yesterday, just keeping me calm. I'm sorry I lost it a bit, I guess I was just emotional.' She looked down at the floor, blushing. Brian took her small hand in his.

'Don't mention it Lo, it's fine. I won't mention it either, if you don't want.' She smiled up at him. She didn't say anything, but stood up on her tiptoes and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. Brian grinned and led her downstairs. As they prepared to turn into the kitchen, where the StarKids were congregated Brian let her hand drop from his grasp. They shared a small smile. Now wasn't the time for _those _sorts of questions.

The entire group cheered them when they entered. Jaime and Julia ran over to Lauren and enveloped her in a bear-hug. The rest of the guys hug tackled the pair until they were a mess of limbs on the floor. The group eventually picked themselves up with some good-natured grumbling and sat around the kitchen table.

Darren was cooking, which was never a good sign. 'Julia, who let Darren near an oven?' Brian said, looking worriedly at the frying pan that Darren was wielding.

'It's fine, I'm helping out!' Darren said, before promptly dropping the pan on his foot. The group rolled their eyes. 'Sod it, I'm paying for us to go out for breakfast.' There was a general shout and scurry to get dressed and shower. Half an hour later, the group piled into the bus. They fitted, as Nick and Matt had stayed to sort out paperwork for the show they had done the night before.

'This can be our celebratory meal from yesterday!' Meredith exclaimed from her seat between Joey and Jaime. Lauren was extremely hyper after her adventure of the previous night, and was practically bouncing off the walls. Brian was laughing at her idiocy, but couldn't help his mind from wandering back to that morning and the kiss. He had no idea what was going on in that girls mind, but to be honest, who knew _anything _about the way girls minds worked.

Daren was driving. He was only marginally better at this than he was at cooking as he got so easily distracted. He was simultaneously talking to Joe Walker, who had to keep grabbing the wheel to keep them on the road. They eventually pulled up at a diner and ran inside, excited as anything.

They squeezed round one table, the ten of them squished together, which none of them minded. Lauren and Brian had somehow ended up next to each other, as had Joey and Meredith which seemed to be something of Darren's doing. The waitress came over and obviously recognised Darren.

The man himself was being his usually charming self, a constant smile on his face and a ready laugh. Every other StarKids could see how this guys went from a normal University student to a global superstar. He had charisma practically _dripping _from him.

The group scoured the menu. Lauren was the first to decide. 'Right, I'm ordering everything.' She received some startled looks. 'What?' She said, surprised. 'I've had a traumatic experience, I deserve to have a load of crap in my stomach.' The group shrugged. They were used to Lauren's ability to eat any amount of food without gaining weight. Her stomach seemed to be able to withstand any amount of food.

By the time everyone had decided what they wanted, there had been three arguments, and Julia had shouted at five people. The bill was absolutely huge, but Darren had offered to pay for it, so none of the others cared. When the waitress saw the order, she enlisted the help of four other waitresses and it took the five of them at least six trips to bring all the food to the table. In fact, the food wouldn't all fit on the one table, they had to add an extra one to the end and even that was three quarters full.

56 pancakes, 67 sausages, 22 cups of coffee and tonnes of sprinkles later, the group sat back, stuffed to the brim. Even Lauren declined yet another bowl of ice-cream. After paying, the StarKids staggered back to the bus, cursing themselves for eating so much.

On the way back to the villa they passed the gorge that the car had gone down. They pulled the bus over and jumped out. Lauren hesitated, she wasn't sure she ever wanted to go near that car again, but Brian held his hand out to her and she took it, filled with a new confidence when she smiled at her.

Joe Walker was trying to get the car out. 'It's not damaged, it's just stuck in the mud. There's so much from yesterdays storm!' The group started to dig the wheels out, and in no time at all the car was free. 'Right, I'll take Jaime in the car and you guys drive the bus.' Joe continued.

The group spread out more on the way home, the empty seats allowing them space to breathe. With full stomachs they spoke less than usual, but they were all happy, staring out the windows. Joey was watching Meredith. She looked so beautiful with the light streaming through the windows, illuminating her face and making her hair shine like melted chocolate. She turned to look at him, and stuck her tongue out. He returned the gesture and they both laughed.

Darren was watching them in the rear-view mirror. They made a brilliant couple, and Joey thought he was hiding his feelings well, which he wasn't. Darren could see how much he smiled when Meredith entered the room, and how he laughed more when he was with her. He smiled. He's have a conversation with him soon enough.

The group reached the villa, as did Joe and Jaime seconds after them. Darren opened the front door and stopped dead. 'Oh…my…god.' He stammered, the rest of the group looked past him at his words and stopped dead. Woah, what was going on?


	16. Bored of surprises yet?

Chapter 16: Bored of surprises yet?

'Oh…my…god.' Meredith said, staring through the front door that had been opened wide when Darren pushed through.

'What…the…HELL?' Joey said, peering round Meredith to get a better look.

'HOLY SHIT, THIS IS ALL A BIT CRAY-CRAY ISN'T IT?' Lauren yelled and ran through the front door, into what _had _been the entrance hall. It had entirely changed, the walls had been hastily covered in black paper, as had the ceiling. The windows had also been blacked out and all the lights turned off, save a few strings of fairy lights that were flickering daintily. In addition to this, a bubble machine was set up on the table that was behind the door and the steady hum was audible to the group.

'Matt? Nick?' Jaime said cautiously as she stepped after Lauren, into the hall. The two men themselves appeared, grinning heartily and both clutching something behind their backs.

'What's going on?' Joe Walker said, shimmying past the crowd and through the door.

'Todays activities' Matt said in a serious voice, 'have been decided upon by myself and Nick and began as thus.' The brothers each pulled Nerf guns from behind their backs and aimed them straight at Joe's head. 'FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRE!' Matt screamed as Joe ran down the corridor, closely followed by Nick. 'There are enough guns for everyone, they are hidden around the house, ONLY TAKE ONE or the game is ruined, until later, when we say, then you can start stealing others stuff.' He grinned wickedly and chased down the hall after his brother, turning off the fairy lights as he went.

'We live with people who should be in an asylum!' Julia said shaking her head. The group looked at each other, unsure as to how to make the first move. Eventually it was decided for them, when Joe Walker ran back towards them, shouting and threw a spare Nerf gun he had found into Brian's hands. The group looked from the gun, back to him, and scarpered.

Darren was sneaking along one of the upstairs corridors, staying close to the wall. Little did he know he was being followed by Joey, who was unarmed, as Darren himself was, but ready to fight if a weapon came into play. Darren ninja rolled across the carpet into the boys bedroom and Joey rolled his eyes. God, he was always so overly dramatic.

Just then, he heard a scuffle from behind him and turned to see Meredith standing there, or at least he assumed it was, as she was covered entirely from head to toe in black, save a strip across her face so that she could see. Joey had to shove a hand in his mouth to stop himself collapsing with laughter. Meredith was laughing too, he could see her shoulders shaking. She put a finger to her lips and gestured that they follow Darren into the room.

Downstairs and outside, Lauren was hiding in the box that they stored the pool toys in. She was small enough that it was not at all evident that there was anyone in there. She had found a super-sized Nerf gun with tons of ammo attached, and was waiting for someone to walk past so that she could launch a surprise attack on them. She heard footsteps walking past, not as quietly as they should have. 'I feel like I'm in the Hunger Games' Lauren murmured under her breath. She loved this sort of adrenaline, when you were so scared that your body goes into fight or flight and everything speeds up. She waited a second longer, before leaping out of the container and onto the person who had walked past.

Lo and behold, it was Brian. He had almost had a heart attack when Lauren flew at him, and as he stumbled back, she grabbed onto him. She either overestimated her strength, or underestimated the momentum because in the final act of grabbing him, she sealed her own fate. The pair of them fell straight into the water that was rapidly cooling as the day drew to a close.

Both emerged spluttering, laughing and freezing cold. Brian helped Lauren to the edge of the pool and climbed out, before holding his hands out to her. She grabbed them tightly, and with the skill of a monkey ran up the pool side and collapsed, giggling hysterically into his arms.

Brian held her a fraction longer than necessary, but neither of them pulled away. He looked down at her, mascara running all over her face, her hair soaked and hanging loose down her back, shining in the fading sunlight and her huge brown eyes framed by ridiculously long eye lashes that were glinting with water droplets. He had never seen anything more perfect in all his life.

Lauren stared up at Brian, who was looking at her so intensely that she thought he must be looking into her soul. His brown hair was spiked up in a random formation, a small section of it sticking to his forehead. Without thinking about it she reached up to push it away. When she had done so she didn't remover her hand from his face. She traced his cheeks with her light touch before letting her hand drop. Brian caught it before it could fall to her side and pulled her closer, under cover from an aerial attack.

Lauren looked up at him and smiled softly. She stood up on her tiptoes and planted a soft kiss on his lips, which he returned, his stomach flipping as he hugged her tightly back. Lauren slid both her arms around his waist and leant her wet head against his shoulder. He gently kissed her hair before whispering; 'We should probably move, we're like sitting ducks out here!'

Lauren nodded. 'Allies?'

'Allies' he agreed. The two of them made their way ninja style back through the patio doors and into the kitchen.

Joe Walker and Jaime were waiting in the living room, having reached an alliance earlier than the others. Joe hid behind the door and Jaime was stationed behind the sofa. They saw a dark shape approaching and both prepared to open fire. Joe Moses didn't know what had hit him, the second he came in the room he was ambushed by Joe, who pulled him to the ground ans Jaime sat across his chest, her gun pointing directly into his forehead.

'Give us your weapons, and you can go Moses.' Jaime whispered slyly. JoMo glared up at her, unable to speak but obviously extremely annoyed at his present situation. JoMo handed over his gun and Jaime pocketed it. Joe Walker opened the door and steered Joe towards it, as Moses turned to run away down the hall, the pair in the living room open fired at his back. They turned to face each other with a high-five.

'Oh it's on like Donkey Kong' Tyler whispered from outside the door, where he had watched their every move.


	17. Battle for supremacy

Chapter 17: Battle for supremacy…

Joe and Jaime had set up a fortress in the living room. They had acquired 4 of the Nerf guns that were placed around the house and one of them was guarding them at all times. Tyler had known from the beginning that these two would be the ones to watch and had lain in wait outside the door, listening intently.

In the last few minutes, he had enlisted the help of Julia, who would be a key player in his plan to take the pairs guns. There were 11 guns in play. Jaime and Joe had 4, Tyler had managed to get his hands on another 3, leaving only 4 that were unknown to either of the teams.

On his signal, Julia edged towards the living room door. She saw where the pair had left the two guns that they weren't holding and made a beeline straight for them. The pair weren't anticipating an attack, but reacted quickly. Julia made to scoop up the guns from the floor, but at the last minute turned and pulled Joes gun from his hands. Jaime was too stunned to move for a second, and only when Julia had run from the room did the pair follow her, adrenaline kicking in. leaving the two guns unguarded, and allowing Tyler to slip in and make off with them both.

Meanwhile, Joey and Meredith had formed an alliance and managed to ambush Darren and take his gun. They had then run into Lauren and Brian who looked _very _cosy, and taken them on as team mates as well. Between them they had the remaining four guns. Darren had tried to sneak back into the room and reclaim his weapon, only to be taken hostage and tied up. They were debating where to put him, Joey suggested the cupboard which Brian was pretty happy with too, but Lauren had a better idea

'We should use him as bait!' Lauren whispered excitedly, looking at Darren as though sizing him up.

'How so?' Meredith asked, interested and also staring at Darren, who was looking up at the girls with loathing on his face, although he couldn't say anything as they had gagged him with Lauren's red bandana.

'Tie his hands to a gun and a rope around his waist, leave him in the corridor and wait for someone to walk past and try and take the gun, then we ambush them.' She said simply. Smiles spread across the faces of the other three.

'Lauren, you genius!' Joey exclaimed, clapping excitedly before being 'shh'd' by everyone present. Darren didn't look annoyed anymore, now he just looked plain terrified.

Matt and Nick were climbing the stairs to the top floor. They saw a shape move down the end of the hall. Silently, communicating without speaking as they always had, they moved to the far end of the hall without paying too much attention to the shape. It turned out, though none of them knew it, that this was the biggest mistake of the Nerf war. Matt had a gun that no one else knew was in play, and he was guarding it with his life. The two brothers slipped into the end room and sat down to wait.

Joe and Jaime had caught Julia and taken back their weapons before returning to their room. When they saw the guns had gone they were dumbstruck. None of them knew that Tyler had them, no one had seen him the whole time and they had all but forgotten him. They decided to go on a scouting mission to find more ammunition, they were running low from the chase.

They approached the stairs just as Tyler stepped out of the kitchen. In a split second they had all drawn their guns. Joe and Jaime pointing theirs at Tyler, and Tyler pointing one at each of them. 'We'd work better as a team.' Jaime whispered and lowered her weapons. The trio climbed the stairs slowly, pausing when they saw Darren on the floor, looking like he'd been knocked out. Joe ran towards him on light feet and pulled at the gun. A second too late, he realised the trap and ran back to the others. Brian, Joey, Meredith and Lauren burst from the door and chased them down the hall shooting without mercy. Simultaneously, Matt and Nick barrelled down the corridor and into the war that was raging at the top of the stairs. From somewhere below, the group heard a door slam. The fighting ceased.

'Who's down there?' Joe Walker whispered, looking around at the group, seeing if anyone was missing.

'Oh god, it's Joe!' Julia said. She had been in waiting at the top of the stairs and ran out when the fighting began.

'He's locked us up here!' Joey said, half annoyed and half impressed. He pulled off Darren's gag and untied his hands.

'Wait, we could get out the window!' Brain said suddenly, looking out over the flat roof.

'Great idea!' Tyler said. 'Just all go in quick succession and then we can all ambush him together.' The group nodded. One by one they climbed out of the window, keeping close to the wall until everyone was out. When Jaime gave the signal the whole group ran and jumped into the pool. There was an almighty SPLASH and the StarKids were submerged in the chilly water.

It was pitch black outside now, so it was impossible for them to see what they had just jumped into. Just as the group began to climb out of the pool, complaining and shivering, they heard a shout from the upstairs window they had just vacated.

'Hi guys.' Joe Moses said from the window, smiling and waving down at them. 'I know you think you we're pretty clever climbing out the window, but you're wrong!' Darren ran over to the sliding doors and found them locked.

'Damn you Joe!' he shouted up at him. 'He's locked us out.' Darren said, turning back to his friends who all had similar looks of anger on their faces.

'If you throw the guns up one at a time, I'll let you back in!' Joe said gleefully. He climbed out onto the roof and stood staring down at them triumphantly.

The group had an emergency discussion. 'If he was down here I'd kill him.' Brian grumbled.

'Yeah, but that's the point Bri. He's not.' Lauren said, rolling her eyes. 'There's nothing we can do, we'll have to surrender because I'm FREEZING.'

The others agreed. There was nothing else to do. One by one they threw their guns onto the roof, all shouting abuse at Joe as they went. Jaime lobbed her gun directly at his head, and JoMo had to duck to avoid it. He popped back up laughing and blew Jaime a kiss, who made a very obscene gesture at him before turning to the door.

'Now let us in you asshat!' Joey yelled.

'Do you admit that I won?' Joe shouted back, still grinning.

'Yes!' shouted the group, all freezing and dripping wet.

'And that I'm the greatest person in the world and that you love me more than anyone else?' Joe continued.

'Don't push your luck!' Joe Walker yelled.

Joe Moses practically skipped down the steps and pulled open the door. 'Welcome back, losers!' he said, ad was submerged by the group who bundled on him, drenching him to the skin.

The group dried off and helped Matt and Nick take down the black paper from the house. All of them were complaining about aches and pains form the bullets of the Nerf guns and Julia made everyone hot chocolate with marshmallows. They settled down in the living room, which was even more squashed than usual and discussed what to do the next day.

'After our little accident with the car,' Brian said, 'I know just the place.' He grinned at Lauren, who realised what he was talking about.

'We're going to Typhoon Lagoon!'


	18. Eyebrows feature heavily in this

**Authors note: **Hello everyone! Just a quick note to say thank you for all the lovely reviews I've had, and messages. Thank you for sticking with the story this long, it means a lot to me. I've been writing as much as possible lately, neglecting coursework in favour of meeting chapter deadlines I set myself, although I doubt this can continue for much longer, simply because of exams that start soon. I'm very sorry about this, but I shall try and update whenever possible. You are all amazing and make me smile every time I read one of your comments, so please continue to do so if you wish. Enjoy the chapter, hugs and butterfly kisses, - C

Chapter 18: Eyebrows feature heavily.

'GET UP!' Lauren shouted, banging on the door of the boys room, and hearing groans from the other side in return. She slid down the banister of the stairs and ran into the living room, where a few people were sleeping, not having enough room in the bedrooms to accommodate the new additions. 'GUYS, WAKE UP, WE'RE GOING TO TYPHOON LAGOON!' She ran over to Brian, who was asleep on the sofa. 'Briaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!' She whined, poking him in the face continuously. He half heartedly pushed her hand away and rolled over, moaning about it being too early to even consider waking up.

Lauren continued poking him for a few more minutes, until he had no choice but to wake up. He tried to look disdainful, but failed as soon as he saw how excited Laurens little face looked. He swung his legs off the sofa and stood up to stretch.

'YAY!' Lauren yelled, hugging him round the middle and dragging him upstairs to re-wake the others, all of whom had fallen asleep again. Twenty minutes later, the dishevelled group had woken enough to come downstairs. Tyler was at the kitchen counter, bleary eyed and making enough coffee to fill a swimming pool. Darren was sitting next to Julia on a bench at the table, yawning and trying to fall back asleep on her shoulder. Julia rolled her eyes and shifted to the right, conveniently leaving Darren to fall onto the wood of the bench.

'Ow, jeesh Jules.' He said, looking at her reproachfully. She grinned and turned back to the table. Everyone was still in pyjamas except her, Lauren, Brian, Meredith and Jaime. Lauren had made sure that all of the girls were up when she was. Meredith had woken to find Lauren sitting cross legged at the foot of her bed, staring at her with her big brown eyes. Not for long though, the pillow aimed at Laurens head hit it's mark, and both Lauren and the pillow hit the floor, one complaining loudly.

Jaime and Julia had woken from the noise and decided to get up, after all, Laurens excitement was infectious and they all loved Typhoon Lagoon. This was the point that Lauren had run next door, then downstairs to wake the rest.

Back at the kitchen table, people had been disappearing in groups to get changed. Finally, everyone was downstairs and ready to leave. Darren was almost as hyper as Lauren now and the two of them were dancing round, trying to get the others to move faster. Everyone else was going overly slowly, just to annoy the pair who were getting more and more agitated.

'Shotgun not sitting next to Darren OR Lauren!' Jaime said, narrowly avoiding the small girl who nearly collided with her, spinning round in crazy circles. The group made their way out to the bus and car, looking a bit battered but still working, and chose their seats.

Darren and Lauren had been sent to the back of the bus with the only person who'd said they'd sit with them. Brian. He was between the two crazed loonies, a look of suffering amusement on his face as he was constantly hit by Lauren who was now attempting to climb over all the seats. Brian pulled her back down again and she gave him a tight hug, refusing to let go. Brian held her, one hand absent-mindedly stroking her waist. He looked over to Darren who was wiggling his triangular eyebrows madly, making kissy-kissy faces at the two from behind Lauren. Brian gave him the most disgusted look he could muster and swore over Lo's head.

Darren was doubled up in fits of silent giggles and could hardly manage a straight face when Lauren turned to look at him. The rest of the bus was slowly waking up and began to chatter loudly, which reached a crescendo when they reached the water park.

The groups burst from the vehicles and congregated outside the entrance as Nick sorted the tickets. They group ran inside, claiming sun beds and sorting out their things for the day. Tyler was as hyper as Darren and Lauren now, jumping around, teeth glinting in the sunlight. The overall effect was that of an overgrown excitable chipmunk.

'We knew you'd be happy, Ty,' Joey said, grinning. 'I mean, a waterpark is the best place for Tyler B.'

'Yeah, I mean…you are o-fish-ally home.' Joe Walker finished, trying his hardest not to laugh. Tyler rolled his eyes and took on the persona of a goldfish for everyone's entertainment.

Lauren had been poking Brian for ages repeating over and over; 'Can we go one rides now? Can we go on rides now? Can we go on rides now?'

Joe Moses turned around when he saw Brian was being penalised and said; 'Lauren, why are you so desperate to go on the rides? It's not like you're tall enough to get on half-.' He didn't finish as he was pushed backwards by the small girl, slipped and fell into the pool.

'Jeesh, she HAS got a temper on her!' Darren whispered to Brian, raising his eyebrows cheekily. 'Have fun with that!' Brian glared at him.

'How long have you known?' Brian asked him softly, REALLY not wanting to be overheard. Darren grinned.

'Since like, forever, but it's cool. I won't mention it. Yet.' With that he strode off to stand with Jaime and Julia, who were both in swimsuits and debating which ride to go for first.

In the end, the entire group decided to warm up by heading towards Castaway Creek. There were too many of them to all stay together, though it took them a while to realise this as they had been holding onto one another in a long line with some interesting outcomes.

'Everyone pick a buddy!' Matt shouted from the back. Meredith and Joey looked at each other. Both shrugged, then grinned.

'Race ya?' Joey said, a glint in his eye. Meredith raised her eyebrow at the challenge.

'It's on!' She said and pulled herself forwards by grabbing onto Tylers ring, who was in front of her.

It was furiously competitive. Once the others had twigged what was going on, they cheered for their favourite and tried to hinder the other by blocking them or tipping up their ring. Eventually the pair had outrun any of the StarKids and were left, exhausted, lying in their rings. Joey turned to look at Meredith and smiled. She looked around, and when she saw they were alone took his hand, smiling brilliantly.


	19. Water, water, everywhere

**Authors note: **Well heeeeeey! As I have done recently, this chapter starts with a bit of a ramble from me (sorry in advance.) You all have been lovely in your reviews, they mean so much to me and inspire me, so PLEASE don't hesitate to review. You are all lovely people and I'm so surprised you've stuck with this story so long! I was never going to post this, but I thought 'what the heck' and it turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. I enjoy writing it so much, and I'm so happy that you all enjoy reading it! I welcome any feedback about updates, questions about characters, everything. Thank you so much everyone, you are all the most awesome people in the world. Don't forget to review! Hugs and Butterfly kisses, C. xx

Chapter 19: Water, water, everywhere

The StarKids became separated in the Lazy River. Lauren had abandoned her ring and was attempting to climb onto Jaimes, resulting in both of them falling into the warm water. They both emerged spluttering, and Jaime and Lauren were helped onto Joe Walker and Brian's rings respectively. Joe took great delight in rocking the ring so that Jaime screamed and clutched at him, anxious of falling off as it was quite likely she'd hit someone. Lauren was laughing at Brian, until he pulled them directly under a waterfall that was in their way. He held the ring against the wall so that Lauren was directly under the flow of freezing water, but he himself was sheltered under the bridge.

When he eventually let go, he was laughing too much to hold on anymore, Lauren was giving him the filthiest look she could muster. She slid into the water, and made as if to swim off. Brian stopped laughing and yelled after her. 'Lauuuuuuuuuuren! I'm joking! I'm sorry for holding you under the water!' she stopped. Brian was behind her so couldn't see the evil smile on her face.

She turned, looking innocently hurt and walked a little way back towards Brian. She reached the ring and stared up at him, her puppy dog eyes watering as she watched his reaction. Brian felt guilty. 'I'm sorry Lo! It was too harsh. Am I forgiven?' Lauren looked at him. She sniffed.

'I guess so.' She turned towards him and he held out a hand to help her up. She grabbed it, and a second too late Brian realised that he had most certainly NOT been forgiven. With a sharp tug, Brian's ring was turned upside-down and he was flung into the water. Lauren laughed manically and pulled herself onto the now vacated ring. Brian splashed in the water and emerged swearing, and started swimming towards Lauren who was floating away as fast as she could.

It was a fearsome race. Lauren reached the side of the river and climbed out as fast as she could, Brian was only a few seconds behind. She ran, screaming towards the kiddie pool and hid among the brightly coloured slides. Brian crouched down, there was no way he'd find her in here!

He set off, grumbling about 'stupid height regulations.' Lauren was watching from the top of one of the slides. She was keeping as close to the wall as she could, but was slowly being shoved towards the mouth of the slide. A small child came up behind her and she had to go down the slide. She slid out and stopped…right at Brian's feet.

An evil smile lit up his face. With one swift movement, he hoisted Lauren up over his shoulder and made his way back to the sunbeds. Immediately she had been picked up, Lauren had started struggling, but to no avail. She was kicking him in the stomach, but not too hard. She didn't actually want to hurt him. As they were walking she switched back into talking in a British accent.

'Oh help!' she sighed, staring back the way they had come, her neck aching from craning round. 'I have been kidnapped by this evil villain, and I don't know if I will ever be free!' It was everything Brian could do to not laugh out loud. He was certain Lauren could feel his shoulders shaking from supressed giggles. She kept up the act for a while, until they reached where they had left their stuff. The two Joes, Jaime and Julia were sitting down playing cards. They looked up surprised as Brian marched over, carrying a still British Lauren over his shoulder.

'What have you two been up to?' Joe Moses asked, raising his eyebrows. Jaime and Julia giggled. Joe Walker ran round to the other side of Brian so that he could see her face. He grinned and she rolled her eyes dramatically.

'What did she do to you, Bri?' Joe Walker asked, still grinning at Lauren who now looked fairly bored.

Brian didn't answer, but Lauren did. 'He held me under a waterfall so I turned his ring over, stole it and ran away. Well, swum away I guess.' The group made noises of exclamation and amusement.

'She tried to hide, which went AWFULLY if I may say so, so I picked her up and I'm trying to decide what to do to her.' Brian said, grinning. 'Any suggestions are welcome.'

The group looked at each other, all except Lauren, who could only look at Brian's back. They came to the same conclusion. The five of them walked, Lauren was carried, over to the pool that wasn't heated. It was only a few degrees above freezing and usually only the bravest dipped in and out. Lauren had no idea where she was being taken, until she was swung down from Brian's shoulders and held, one limb each, between Brian, Joe Walker, Jaime and Julia. Joe Moses was filming. This was going to be GREAT in his video.

Lauren twigged what they were about to do. She screamed and struggled, alternating between apologies and pleading, and threats. 'On the count of three!' Brian yelled. 'One…' the group swung Lauren back and forth. 'Two…THREE!' The group let go and watched Lauren fly through the air, to land with an almighty SPLASH in the pool.

After a few seconds she broke the surface of the water screaming. She pulled herself to the edge and ran at Brian. She shoved him as hard as she could, wrung her freezing hair over his chest and stalked off back to the towels. The rest of the group laughed nervously. She hadn't taken that well. They knew Lauren, she knew how to hold a grudge.

Warily the five walked back the way they had come. Most of the others had congregated there in the time they had been gone, all except Meredith and Joey. Darren noticed this first. He didn't say anything, but excused himself by saying he needed the Loo.

Where would they be? He thought to himself. He wandered round the outside of the nearest pool which was bordered by waterfalls. He looked to his left and stopped dead. In the small gap between the rushing water and the rocks, were two people. He would recognise the two of them anywhere. Silently he slipped out his phone, which he had carried with him for this exact purpose. He tip toed closer to the pair, and confirmed his suspicions. Meredith and Joey were sitting behind the waterfall, leaning in close together. He saw Meredith laugh, and as she sat forwards Joey planted a kiss on her lips. He pressed the camera button and surveyed his evidence, or in his mind, blackmail. The pair kissed for a while longer, until Meredith pulled away, looking around.

She had never been so happy. After her and Joey had got off the river ride, they had run to the pool. Joey had carried her on his back and they had flirted, swum and laughed. Joey had discovered the crack behind the waterfall and the two of them had snuggled up close together, watching the people who looked distorted from behind the wall of water.

Joey had wrapped his arms around her and she leant into him. He felt safe, his arms encircling her made her feel small. She looked up at him, and saw him already staring down at her. She grinned. 'I can't believe this is happening.' She said, shaking her head.

'I know, it's a little crazy!' Joey agreed, his crooked jaw becoming even more pronounced as he grinned.

'I never thought this would happen, I didn't think I'd like you this much, I mean, I knew I liked you just not in this way. Oh god I'm rambling, feel free to-' He silenced her with a kiss that took her breath away. For once they could relax without constantly being worried that someone was watching them. Ironically, this was the only time they had been seen.

Meredith pulled apart from Joey. She had thought she'd seen something. 'What?' Joey asked, pulling her closer to him.

'I thought I saw something.' Meredith said. She shook her head. 'It was probably nothing.'

'Oh it was nothing alright.' Darren said, grinning down at the pair of them, both of whom yelled and pulled apart. 'Guys, it's cool.' Darren said, enjoying the moment. 'I've known for aaaaaages anyway!' Joey glared up at Darren, who laughed.

'Why didn't you tell me you knew!' Joey asked, indignantly.

'Because this is more fun!' Darren replied. He pulled out his phone and showed them the picture. 'A LOT more fun!' Joey and Meredith glanced at each other. What was he going to make them do?

Darren smiled to himself. He would never exploit either of them, but they didn't need to know that. He grinned at the pair. He was going to have fun today, he could tell.


	20. Calm before the storm

**Authors note: **Hi guys, firstly, I am SO sorry about how long it has taken me to write this. I've been revising hard for my exams, it's slipped my mind, and yes, sometimes I decided to relax instead of writing, which I'm sorry for.

You may or may not have seen that I received a few 'reviews' from one person, which weren't the friendliest, to say the least. In fact they were downright rude and unnecessary. That did get me down for a while, but in the end I got over it. I mean, 100 amazing reviews from you absolutely awesome people shouldn't be outweighed by a few bad ones, so I've carried on and have some interesting plot points to work on over the next few chapters!

Thank you all for being so lovely and amazing, I wish I could marry you all. Hugs and butterfly kisses, -C x

Chapter 20: Calm before the storm.

Darren, Meredith and Joey all started to walk back to where the group had left their things. Meredith and Joey kept shooting each other awkward glances, looking away quickly when they saw Darren watching out of the corner of his eye. Once, Joey accidentally brushed Merediths hand and mumbled what sounded like an apology.

Darren was trying not to laugh, he already knew! Why were they so awkward now? It didn't even cross his mind that they were awkward _because _of him…

The trio reached the sunbeds, are were greeted by an interesting site. There were about 8 extra people sitting with the StarKids, they had all pulled their beds round into a large circle and were playing cards. 'Erm…' Darren said, stepping towards the group, all thoughts of Meredith and Joey vanished from his mind. 'Hi, what's going on?'

'Oh hey!' Lauren said, jumping up from the bed she was sharing with a small, blonde, curly haired girl who Darren didn't know. 'These are some guys we met in the giant rubber ring ride!' Lauren explained, hopping back to her perch on the edge of her bed and placing the seven of diamonds down onto the girls card.

'Oh MAN!' she said, glaring at Lauren. Joey and Meredith squeezed in next to a slightly taller girl with dirty blonde hair, who blushed furiously.

Darren looked around at the new people. They were all girls of varying ages, between about 13 and 19. Three blondes, the remaining five were brunette, all spaced evenly between the StarKids. He shrugged and joined them. It turned out that the girls were all friends and had decided to force their families to go on holiday at the same time. They were all StarKids, and meeting their idols had been pure chance.

Four rounds of snap, two games of Poker and a lot of friendly arguments later, the groups split off again. 'I love meeting people who know who we are, it's kind of surreal!' Jaime Lyn said, laughing.

'I know, and they weren't even from around here!' Julia said, putting more sun-cream on. 'Where were you three though?' She said turning to Joey, Meredith and Darren in turn. Joey and Meredith stiffened, and half glanced at Darren who's eyes glinted evilly.

'Oh, they were having fun-' Darren said as Meredith stepped hard on his foot.

'-We were just in the wave pool for most of the time.' She finished, glaring daggers at Darren who was having trouble controlling his laughter.

'Yeah, the waves are like, six foot high man! It's crazy!' Joey said, enthusiastically. This was too much for Darren to take, and he almost ran off, spluttering something unintelligible about finding Tyler. Julia looked at Meredith. The girls were close, and Julia knew that something was up from Meredith avoiding her gaze.

'Mer, can I have a chat with you for a sec?' She asked, taking her arm and steering her towards one of the pools.

'Yes?' Meredith said, innocently, trying to avoid staring at Julia's face.

'Meredith. What is going on?' Julia said, taking her friends face between her hands and forcing her to look at her.

'Nothing!' Meredith tried to say, but from the way her cheeks were squished together it sounded more like: 'Noofthen.' She pulled away and stepped back. 'Nothing.' She said again, looking at her feet which were immersed in the turquoise water. She looked up and saw Julia watching her, a small smile on her face. 'Okay FINE. It's Joey. Darren came over and saw us and now he's being an asshat about it!'

'Oh my GOD! Something happened between you two?' Julia clapped her hands over her mouth, looking ecstatic and shocked at the same time.

'It's nothing really…' Meredith said, looking back at her foot which she was rubbing in circles under the water. 'We just kissed-' Her sentence was interrupted with Julia's squeal.

'Oh that is so CUTE!' She said, hugging Meredith tightly. 'How many people know?'

'Only you and Dar, and I want to keep it that was please! For the moment anyhow…'

'Okay, okay, okay!' Julia said, jumping up and down and grabbing Meredith by the hands. They both danced around for a bit, Meredith finally allowing herself to think of a relationship with Joey, one where they weren't constantly looking over their shoulders at people who were watching them.

'Okay, we should go back.' Meredith said, glancing over to the sun-beds where the group of StarKids had reassembled. Lauren was on Brian's shoulders, and Joe Walker had got hold of a lifeguards whistle somehow, and was blowing it over anyone who tried to talk.

The two girls shook their heads and made their way back over to their crazy friends. Meredith slotted in between Joey and Joe Moses, across the circle Darren was waggling his eyebrows suggestively. She surreptitiously made an obscene gesture at him, at which he grinned and blew her a kiss. She felt Joey watching her as he laid a hand gently on her back. She turned to him and smiled. He grinned crookedly back and squeezed her lightly around the middle.

Julia watched the pair from her place between Darren and Tyler. Now that she knew, it was so obvious there was something between the two of them. She turned to Darren and said under her breath: 'Don't be too harsh on them Daz, let them tell everyone in their own time.'

'You know?' Darren said, surprised.

'Yeah, she just told me.' Jules smiled. 'It's adorable!'

Darren grinned at her. 'I know, I won't say anything, but I like letting them think I will.'

The pair looked up to see Joey and Meredith staring at them suspiciously. They laughed and winked simultaneously at the couple who looked more scared than ever. The rest of the group had started to take notice, and Tyler broke the tension nicely by exclaiming: 'Woah, Look at that storm cloud!'

The group turned just in time to see the first drops of rain fall. They all ran to shelter under the wicker umbrellas. They pulled the sun-beds together, wrapped towels around them and snuggled up.

Lauren was sitting on the same bed as Brian. She was leaning against him sleepily and he had his arms protectively around her. The two Joes were imitating them, but taking it a step further when they pretended to kiss: 'Mmm Lauren, I love you so much!' In a falsetto which earned him a bottle of suntan lotion to the head when Brian had had enough.

The rest of the group spread out. Julia and Darren were playing snap against Tyler and Jaime. The rest put on some music on Joe Moses' portable speakers and settled down to wait out the storm.


	21. Thunder and Lightning

**Author's note: Well! It's been a ridiculously long time, for which I cannot apologise enough for. I am so sorry that I haven't updated in nearly 2 months, I've done exactly what I said I **_**wouldn't **_**do. However, I have now finished my exams so should be able to update more regularly, and also update my other fan fiction too. It's awful but I needed to re-read this whole story because I couldn't remember what I'd already written and what still was just in my head. I'm glad I left it where I did though, it's a nice chapter to get back into. I apologise in advance for the change in tone in this chapter. Just saying. **

**I have missed you all greatly, and am still blown away by the amount of reviews I have gotten without regular updates. You are all so amazing, and I couldn't do this without you. Thank you very much, I shall not be so incommunicado from now on I hope! – C xx**

Chapter 21: Thunder and Lightning.

The rain began to fall heavier and heavier on top of the wicker umbrellas that the StarKids were seated under.

'When you go to a waterpark, you expect the water to stay in the pools rather than the AIR.' Joe Walker said, disgruntled. He was sitting on a towel on the floor, in the middle of the circle of sunbeds, leaning against the central umbrella pole.

Lauren had swung her legs underneath her and was lying down with her head in Brian's lap, seemingly asleep until the first flash of lightning reflected in her open eyes.

Julia and Darren were sitting to their immediate right. Jules had pulled out a notebook and was quietly muttering to herself and making notes, sketches and plans for another one of her amazing stories. Darren, with his arm around her, was reading over her shoulder and smiling at the look of concentration on her face.

Joey and Meredith were sitting facing each other, playing snap. The group was quite quiet for them, the storm had them on edge for some reason, put they couldn't quite put their finger on why.

Suddenly, the first, loud, crash of thunder exploded the air around them, and the whole group jumped. 'Woah, this is going to be a big one…' Darren said, worriedly staring at the sky as the rain swirled in torrents around them.

'Is it worth trying to get home, or shall we see if it blows itself out?' Jaime questioned, following Darren's gaze to the sky.

'May as well stay' mumbled Lauren from Brian's lap. 'I mean, everyone will be trying to leave and I really don't want to be driving in a storm again.' Brian could tell she was remembering the absolute terror that overtook her that night. Without thinking about the group watching them, he took her hand and squeezed it tight.

'I will _never _let anything like that happen to you again Lauren.' He said, leaning close to her. 'I promise.' He gave her a soft kiss on the forehead and she sat up to lean against his shoulder, burrowing her head to be closer to him as she fought her hardest not to cry at remembering everything she had told him, things that she had never told anyone before.

The group looked on at the pair quietly. They didn't interrupt the moment with sarcastic comments or innuendos, because they saw that there was a huge amount of emotion behind what each of them had said. Another flash of lightning woke them from their thoughts, which was followed more closely by a huge crack of thunder.

'The storm's getting closer.' Tyler noted. The clouds were forming thick and fast overhead, purples and greys all mixing into one, foreboding and powerful. The wind also began to pick up.

The boys decided to try and block the wind as much as possible. They took the towels and tied one end to the umbrella and weighed down the other end on the floor with rocks to make a canopy that acted as walls. This made it easier to be heard over the storm.

Now the group was dimly lit, and they all pulled the beds closer to create one continuous surface, cuddling together. 'Well, this is a little cosy, isn't it chaps?' Joe Walker said in an over the top British accent.

'I couldn't agree more old bean.' Lauren replied. There was a pause.

'Oh well done Joe, she'll be English for at least the rest of the storm now.' Joe Moses said scathingly to Walker. The rest of the group looked half annoyed and half amused.

'One is being very inconsiderate of thy feelings!' Lauren said imperiously, sitting up to stare at Moses indignantly. 'Would thou hadst me speak is _peasant talk?' _

'Lauren, American isn't peasants talk! You ARE American.' Jaime said, laughing her head off.

'Thou!' Lauren pointed at Jaime. 'Thou is impudent and wrong and ought be burned at the stake for such befoulities!'

'That's not a word, Lauren.' Julia said, not looking up from her notebook. Lauren stuck her tongue out at her while the rest of the group whooped and laughed.

'You're all so mean to meeeeeee!' She whined in her normal voice, while everyone cracked up again. There was another flash of lightning followed almost immediately by a rumbling clap of thunder.

'We're almost directly underneath the storm!' Jaime said, sticking her head out between two of the towels that made up the walls. One flew off of the umbrella and Meredith jumped up to run after it. She was just 4 metres from the wave pool when the lightning struck the water. The sizzling crack would have been audible from miles away, and Meredith slipped and fell to the ground, but only for a second because Joey has run after her the instant she had left. He swung her over his shoulders and ran as fast as he could back to the sunbeds.

Everyone was in shock, how had this happened? Just a second ago the group had been laughing at Laurens comedic genius, and now one of their best friends was lying on a bed, unconscious. The group dried her off as best they could and Tyler ran over to alert one of the lifeguards.

'I don't think she was actually electrocuted. The small shock wave and the fact that it was slippery caused her to fall over and hit her head pretty hard, that's what knocked her out. It's not _good _but it's better than her actually having been electrocuted. She needs to get to hospital though.' They group thanked the lifeguard and between them carried Meredith back to the van. Joey refused to let go of her at all. As they got in the minibus, the skies began to clear again and the sun made it's way out, illuminating the water droplets on Meredith's face. As the boys laid her out over the middle seats, Joey climbed in and rested her head on his lap. He leaned over and gave her a soft kiss.

'I'm not sure that towel was worth it' Meredith mumbled, opening her eyes slowly and smiling up at Joey. It was all he could do to not pull her into the tightest hug possible.

'Yeah, maybe you're right Mer.' He said. 'Just, don't _ever _do that to me again.'

'I'll try not to.' She winked, then grimaced as she tried to move. Joey stroked her face.

'You're safe now, and I'm not going anywhere.'

'Good' Meredith said, before slipping back into unconsciousness, a smile on her face.


	22. 1 step forward, 2 steps back

**Authors note: sorry to continuously start with these XD Okay, so I know last chapter was a bit of a change in mood, I did give **_**some **_**warning, and I'm just apologising in advance for if I use some words that don't make sense to people from other parts of the world. In case you aren't aware, I am English, very much so, and have not much concept of American lingo, other than from my friends who live out there. So, if you don't understand a word or concept, or you want to inform me of the proper way of saying it (I say proper, because writing about an American group of people, American words tends to make more sense) then ask me on twitter, or review, or pm. Okay, I'll shut up now, thank you for all being amazing, and I apologise for not updating for so long, I know you're all very annoyed with me and I'll try to make it up to you ;) – C xx**

Chapter 22: 1 step forward, 2 steps back.

Throughout the whole journey to the hospital, Joey refused to let go of Meredith's hand. She drifted in and out of consciousness, and the whole time he was there for her, coaxing her out of the limbo when she panicked, not knowing where she was.

As they reached the hospital, a wheelchair was brought round and Joe and Joey gently lifted Meredith into it, having fallen asleep once more. The group stopped at the doors.

'There's no point all of us going in.' Tyler said, looking around at the large number of concerned faces. 'It'll unsettle her.'

'Okay, I think three people should stay, Darren and I can stay along with…' Julia couldn't finish before Joey cleared his throat, loudly. '…Joey.' Jules finished, nodding towards him, although looking a little concerned. 'We'll be on the end of the phone if you need us, but this kind of stress isn't what Mer wants or needs right now.'

Begrudgingly, the rest of the group agreed. They said goodbye to the three designated carers and each softly kissed Meredith's forehead before climbing back into the bus. The second they were gone Joey wheeled Meredith into the reception.

After one check-up for which Meredith wasn't awake, she was taken to a room and under-went a second check-up, but conscious this time. She had trouble remembering anything that had happened recently, the Doctor was attempting to see how far back her memory had been damaged.

Julia was leaning against Darren, a furrow in her forehead that showed she was extremely concerned. Darren held her close and stroked her hair. 'She'll be okay Jules, Meredith's tough as boots.'

'I'm more worried about Joey, Dare.' She replied. They hadn't been allowed to enter the room, and Joey had his head leaning against the glass window, looking helpless and broken as the doctors spoke to Meredith, who looked to be getting more and more upset as time passes.

'What's taking so long.' Joey exclaimed, kicking a plastic yellow chair that was next to where he was standing. Julia and Darren looked at each other, at a loss of what to do.

'Joey, they're doing all they can. At least she's awake, and functioning.' Darren said, the most sincere he'd been in a long time. Julia backed him up, but not well enough to hide the tremor in her voice that displayed the panic of the possibility her friend could be hurt.

Her phone went off with a beep. 'It's Lo.' She said, tapping out a fast reply to Lauren who was asking for updates on her condition.'

'_Don't know much yet. Will keep posted. Joeys going crazy, they wont let us in to see her. – Juls'_

'_Agh, that's shit. Hope u r all coping. KIT and speak l8er. Hope its not 2 cray. – Lo'_

Julia smiled. Lauren, always the optimist. Suddenly, the door swung open and Meredith was wheeled out to see them. She smiled weakly and Joey looked as though he could faint with relief.

'Mer, are you okay? How are you feeling?' He said, stroking the hair off her forehead.

'I'm fine Joey, why are you stroking my head? I'm not a dog!' She smiled, but it was weaker than her usual beaming self.

'Could I have a word with one of you?' The Doctor said, addressing Darren, Julia and Joey. Julia stood up and followed the Doctor leaving Darren and Joey with Meredith. The two walked into the Doctors office and he offered her a seat. From the look on his face, Julia could tell something was wrong.

'What is it?' She asked, leaning closer although afraid to hear his answer.

'Well, it isn't awful, and it isn't permanent.' Well, at least that's something! Julia thought to herself. 'However, the fall has partially erased some of Miss Stepien's memory, beginning with the most recent events and working backwards to a point, a point which we think we have found.'

'So you're saying Meredith can't remember certain things that happened recently? How far back? A few hours before the fall? Can she remember breakfast?' Julia searched his face for sign of an answer.

'I'm very sorry, but Meredith had lost the last two weeks from her memory. She can't remember anything onwards from the last night she babysat Bella and Sebastian, I think she said,' Julia nodded, her heart sinking to her stomach, 'And from then on until now, she remembers absolutely nothing. It's not as serious as it could have been, which is a blessing, at her memory could return, but it will need to be done slowly. You can't rush this.'

Julia thanked the Doctor, she stood up, left the office and closed the door. She got halfway down the corridor before sinking to the ground, shaking. Meredith couldn't remember anything from the last two weeks, the excitement of being in Orlando, meeting their fans, singing on a huge stage, the nerf gun war, the cute looks between her and Jo- She stopped mid-thought. If Meredith couldn't remember the last two weeks, she couldn't remember Joey.

Well, she could remember Joey, but none of the kisses, the cuddles, the _emotion _that accompanied him, and he didn't know. He didn't know that she couldn't remember anything between them. They were back to being just friends, because she had forgotten that she loved him.

She slowly walked back to the trio, who were waiting patiently, all three of which looking slightly confused. She plastered a smile to her face and gestured towards the exit. Joey pushed Meredith ahead of the other two. Darren made to move off and in that one second of solitude Julia allowed herself to break a little, because everything that had just fallen into place had been rearranged.

Darren turned to see the tear drip down her cheek, and as they exited into the cool evening he wiped it off and hugged her quickly. 'Is it okay Julia, is she okay?'

'She is.' Julia replied, her voice shaking, 'But Joey isn't.'


	23. Lover or a friend?

**Author's note: Hi everyone! I'm going abroad for a couple of weeks tomorrow, so there will be no updates (which I sincerely apologise for) and I didn't plan on writing this one until after I got back, but I realise leaving it at this point is distinctly unfair, because obviously **_**I **_**know what happens. Soooo, I wrote this earlier to satisfy the next couple of weeks. The reviews and messages I have been receiving from you lovely people are amazing. You make every evening I spend with writers block worth it, even when it gets to the point when I want to set my laptop on fire, throw it out the window and dance around in the ashes singing tribal songs(okay, not really, but you get my drift. Writers block sucks.) Also, I have been extremely ill for the last few days and had to miss a few important dates, so haven't really been feeling up to writing stuff, but I decided today that I should push through and write this chapter. **_**Anyway. **_**I even ramble when I type… Thank you very much for being awesome. Keep reviewing, sharing, being cool and supermegafoxyawesomehot as only you know how. Until I get back from my holiday, **_**abrazos y mariposa besos – C xx**_

Chapter 23: Lover or a friend?

The four of them sat in near silence on the way back. They had been left the car, and despite Joey's arguments, Julia sat in the back seat next to Meredith, forcing him to take his place next to Darren who was driving.

She was trying to work out what to tell Joey in her head, how could you explain that someone had _forgotten _how they felt about you? It would break him, and Julia knew it. Darren kept glancing over at Joey, who couldn't take his eyes off Meredith in the overhead mirror. Eventually they pulled into the driveway. As per Julia's instructions, Darren sprinted in and found everyone in the living room.

'Hi guys, I'll explain everything in a bit but you _cannot _talk to Meredith this evening, seriously, she needs to go straight to bed. Also, we may have a bit of a problem with Joey, but he doesn't know that yet, so don't speak to _him _yet either.' The room nodded their assent and tried to look relaxed as Meredith stumbled into the room, supported by Julia.

'Hi guys.' She said weakly, waving. The group smiled back at her, Jaime and Lauren softly skipping over to give her gentle hugs, searching Julia's face for signs of worry. However good an actor any of them were, and Julia was exceptional, it was not enough to hide the sadness etched under the happy mask she wore. She asked for volunteers to help Meredith upstairs, and chose Joe Walker and Tyler, deliberately ignoring Joey.

The rest of the group sat down in the living room again, making space for the extra people when Joe and Tyler returned. Julia stood up. 'Right, first thing you should know is that there is nothing life-threateningly wrong with Mer.' The room sighed with relief. 'However, there is something that you all need to be aware of.' Everyone was focusing very hard on Julia. Joey, who had been sitting with his head in his hands, looked up at this point. Julia avoided his gaze for fear of breaking down. She felt someone squeezing her hand softly, and looking down saw Darren next to her. She smiled and looked up. 'When she hit her head, she got a form of concussion and blacked out. This had some freaky effect on her memory, and essentially erased the past two weeks from her mind. She can't remember anything from the last time she babysat, so nothing of this whole trip or the days before.'

No one said anything while the information sunk in. Jaime looked on in horror at what Julia had said, her expression mirrored on several of the faces in the room. Lauren had buried her head in Brian's t-shirt, and was shaking with quiet tears. Brian comforted her, knowing how on edge she had been for the last few days. Finally Julia turned her gaze on Joey, who she had avoided looking at for as long as possible. He sat in the corner of the room, one hand pressed to his lips, and Juls knew he was remembering the last kiss he had shared with Meredith, and as far as he knew, the last kiss he may ever share with her.

She felt hot tears well up in her own eyes as she watched the news that had hurt her entirely break one of her closest friends. He slowly got up and walked upstairs. No one went to follow him, which was good. Jaime said quietly; 'There was something going on between them, wasn't there?'

Julia nodded, as did Darren, Lauren and Brian. 'Yes. For a while now, but she can't remember. She can't remember him as anything more than a friend.'

'Poor Joey.' Joe Moses said, staring through the door Joey had walked through. 'I mean, what can you do to help the guy?' They sat in silence once more.

'This was meant to be a good holiday.' Came Lauren's muffled voice from Brian's t-shirt. He squeezed her and gave her a soft kiss on the top of her head.

'Get a room.' Joe Walker said from the end of the sofa, grinning cockily but raising one challenging eyebrow at the pair. Lauren raised one back and jumped up.

'Fine. Come on Brian.' She pulled him to his feet and half dragged him up the stairs.

'Don't wake Meredith up!' Tyler whispered loudly.

'Dude, they wouldn't be THAT loud. I mean, Lauren's tiny, and _Brian-'_

'Walker, if you want to keep your genitalia attached to your body I would _shut your mouth now.' _Brian hissed from outside the door as everyone else fell about laughing. Lauren turned to look at Brian from the darkened hallway. She raised a questioning eyebrow at him. 'Don't ask.'

The two of them tiptoed up the stairs and into the smallest bedroom, which had been temporarily vacated in favour of sleeping downstairs. 'They'll be up to check on us in about 10 minutes.' Lauren said, jumping onto the bed. Brian lay down next to her, looking up into her huge brown eyes.'

'Walker's there, it'll be more like 5 minutes.'

'True.' Lauren said, planting a kiss on his lips and laying down, her hand instantly finding his. Brian turned to face her, their noses almost touching and for a second, every worry either of them had melted away. Even Meredith was forgotten as they lay captivated by each others gazes. Brian gently stroked the side of Lauren's face with his hand.

'You're beautiful, Lauren.' He said, staring at her directly. He saw the look she gave, taken aback, and then the unmistakable smile she could not hide.

'No one's ever said that before.' She wasn't lying. She's always been the 'cute' one. 'Adorable' and 'pretty' were more used to describe her, 'beautiful' was more Jaime, or Meredith.

'Well it's true.'

'Brian?'

'Yes Lauren?'

'Thanks.'

'You're welcome.' The pair smiled at each other, and Lauren moved closer, so that the space between them shrunk to almost nothing. Their lips touched, and both of them relaxed into the kiss, finally together.

Outside the room, from where he had been sitting the whole time, Joey sank to the floor with tears running down his face. That was everything that _should _have been his and Meredith's, and so nearly was. He crept along the corridor and into her room. He slowly pulled the chair from the desk over to the bed, so as not to wake her, and sat next to her. He picked up one of her hands and held it between both of his.

In Meredith's sleep, she rolled over to face the chair. Sleepily she noticed someone holding her hand, familiar for some unknown reason, because no one she had been close to felt like this. The emotion and anticipation that came with this touch, but she didn't know why. Fog began to swirl in her brain and make coherent thought near impossible. Just as she was about to fall into a deeper sleep, a part of the puzzle clicked in. _Joey._

'_Joey.' _Meredith whispered as she rolled to face the door again, and just for that moment, she remembered.


	24. Uncertainty

**Hi everyone! I'm back, SORRY FOR LEAVING SO LONG BETWEEN UPDATES. I thank you massively for sticking with this story as I fail to update. I also apologise for the fact that I am going away again on Tuesday, so cannot update for a week after that. In fact, the next month might be a bit sparse with updates as I have loads to do. Thank you very much for being awesome, I love getting the reviews from you all, and can't help smiling when someone follows the story or me as an author. YOU'RE ALL AMAZING. – C xx**

Chapter 24: Uncertainty

No one slept particularly well that night. Joey slept in the chair that he had pulled close to Merediths bed. He didn't let go of her hand all night. Jaime and Joe Moses crept in later that evening to sleep in the same room, as there wasn't enough space downstairs for all of the StarKids.

Next door in the smallest bedroom, Brian and Lauren had fallen asleep cradled in each others arms. Both facing the same way, Brian had his arm wrapped protectively around Laurens waist. She in turn held Brians hand with both of her own. Their legs entwined, both were content beyond belief, this also resulted in each of them waking up several times in the night and just staring at the other, each unable to comprehend how lucky they were at that moment.

At around 5am, both woke at the same time and rolled to face each other. Brian didn't remover his hands from Lauren's waist, and she stroked the side of his face before burrowing into his chest and falling straight back to sleep. Brian gently pulled her hair off her face, and bending close whispered into her ear. 'I love you Lauren.' He gave her a soft kiss on the cheek and lay down to sleep. From his position, he was unable to see the radiant smile that adorned Lauren's face, as she had been awake through the whole episode.

The living room downstairs had turned into some kind of mosh-pit with anyone lying anywhere on anyone else. Joe Walker and the Langs were bundled behind the sofa, which was occupied by Julia and Darren. The rest of the floor was taken up with the other StarKids who had pulled down blankets and cushions to cover the floor, then crashed where they sat. It was a restless night. One person at least was awake at any one time.

The next morning, everyone woke up bleary eyed and in a somewhat melancholy mood. Julia dragged herself to the kitchen with Tyler to make pancakes for breakfast. Brian carried Lauren on his back down the stairs, with her being too lazy to walk herself. All it had taken was a wink and a kiss on the cheek for him to agree. The two joined the rapidly filling table. Nick helped by handing out plates and Joe Walker rummaged through the freezer to find more food. Jaime, Joe Moses and Joey all came downstairs at that point. Joey hadn't wanted to leave Meredith, but the others had convinced him to come and eat something. The resulting breakfast was one of pancakes, ice-cream (Ben and Jerry's) Tyler's left over home-made cake pops, re-heated lasagne from earlier yesterday evening, random assortments of chips and spreads which Lauren was shovelling into a sandwich. That girl would eat ANYTHING.

Everyone tucked in and despite the bad mood and mismatched flavours, massively enjoyed the meal. Matt and Darren had just started stacking things in the sink and dishwasher when the door opened. Meredith walked in, looking tired but smiling around at everyone.

'Hey guys.' She said, taking a seat between Lauren and Joe Moses. Lauren wrapped her arms round her friend and squeezed gently.

'You okay Merediddy?' She whispered.

'I'm alright Lolo' Meredith said back, smiling at the tiny girl. She caught Joey's eye across the table. He was staring at her with a pained expression on his face. She chose not to question it. 'Is there food? I'm starving.' Julia grabbed a clean plate and Meredith began piling the food on.

'What are we going to do today then dudes and dudettes?' Walker said, his mouth full of meat from a taco, which no one knew where he'd found.

'I think we should just hang around the house and pool here, Mer is tired and I don't want to be too far from home if anything happens.' Said Julia.

There was general consensus from everyone. People started dispersing to put on swimming costumes and go out to the pool. Julia, Joey and Meredith were left in the kitchen. Julia gave Joey a meaningful look and walked out, closing the door quietly behind her.

The pair were sat opposite each other around the vast dining room table. From staring at her before, Joey went to looking out of the open window. He felt that if he made eye contact, he'd either say something he'd instantly regret, or even worse, burst into tears. Meredith was watching him steadily.

'There's something wrong.' He looked at her but didn't say anything. 'Look, Joey, we've always been close. You tell me everything. Can you just tell me what's going on?' Tears glistened in her eyes. 'I need someone to tell me what's happened, you're all treading round me carefully like you're on eggshells, scared to upset me?' Joey watched a single tear fall down her cheek. She made no move to wipe it off as she watched Joey's expression. 'Please Joey.' Her voice cracked. 'I don't know what's happened, do you know how scary that is? I can't _remember _a week of my life. I don't know _anything_ that happened and everyone's acting weird so I know something has!' She said this all very quickly, crying throughout.

Joey looked away. It was everything he could do to not fall apart then and there, to not shout or cry or scream like he wanted to, because even though it was unfair, he was _so angry _at Meredith for forgetting. It was entirely irrational but it made him feel like nothing had been worth it.

Finally he turned to look at her. Her eyes were red and puffy, her bed hair all messed up and she was dressed in tatty shorty pyjamas, but he had never seen anyone more beautiful.

'I can't do this.' He said, swallowing as hard as he could when he felt the heat well up in his face. 'I can't. I'm so sorry Mer, I'm _so _sorry.' He pushed himself out of his chair and ran towards the door. As he turned in the doorway Meredith saw the agonised look that over-powered his face, saw the tears spill over before the door slammed shut between them, the hollow sound echoing through the spacious house.

Meredith put her head on her hands, and cried.


	25. How is this going to work?

**I apologise for the randomness of this update. I didn't want to leave it where it was for a week and risk coming back from my course to masses of abuse. So this was written quickly, but I enjoyed it and so I hope you will too. The mood is somewhat lighter than the previous chapter! I am leaving tomorrow and will be back in a week. There won't be many updates over the next 2 weeks (which I'm inexplicably sorry for, but I'll do as much as I can.) Keep reviewing, it means a lot. I love you all, hugs and butterfly kisses! – C xx**

Chapter 25: How is this going to work?

'CANNON BAAAAAAAAAAAAALL!' Joe Walker yelled as he bombed off the roof over the pool, soaking Matt, Nick and Joe Moses who were standing by the edge.

'JOE I'M GOING TO KILL YOU IF THAT SOAKED MY CAMERA' Joe screamed as Walkers head surfaced above the water. He laughed and blew Moses a kiss, causing him to roll his eyes. At that moment, Joey appeared outside. He sat under the balcony where Julia was relaxing. She looked at him and he shook his head.

'Okay Joey-Joe. Don't worry about it, I'm here to talk if you need.' She gave him a quick hug and wiped his face clean of tears. 'Try and cheer up a bit sweetie, we're on holiday after all!' He grinned and picked Julia up.

'COME ON DARLING, LET'S HAVE FUN IN THE POOL!' He yelled, and, despite her screaming in protest, threw her face first into the water. The others looked on in horror as Julia pulled herself out and glared furiously at Joey.

Lauren broke the tension by yelling: 'GUYS, WE'RE TRYING TO MAKE A WATERPARK SO CAN YOU PLEASE MOVE OUT THE WAY THANK YOU LOVE YOU NICE YES YUM.' They turned to look at her, holding what appeared to be a large sheet of tarpaulin.

'Lauren-' Joey began. 'What the hell are you doing with that?' She smiled a scary grin before bending down and tying two of the corners to the edge of the roof. She flung the remainder of the sheet off the roof where it floated on the water, slipping across the glassy surface. Then, with a triumphant grin and a length of rope, she dove in after it. She remained underwater for what seemed like a ridiculously long time before surfacing and taking a huge gulp of air. The tarpaulin was now tied to two pegs in the centre of the pool, and whilst attached at the top, created a fairly steep slopethat reached the walls surrounding the pool.

'VOILA! Water-slide!' Lauren jabbered excitedly before running upstairs and climbing out of the window onto the roof again. 'CAN YOU CHUCK UP THE GARDEN HOSE THINGIE PLEASE.' Joey complied, throwing one end up to her. She secured it to the top and Joey turned it on. Water ran down the tarpaulin and dripped into the pool. Lauren, excited as anyone had ever seen her, grabbed a foam mat from the floor and before anyone could question the safety precautions of what she was about to do, flung herself down the 'slide.' She reached the pool extraordinarily quickly and emerged laughing hysterically.

After that, there was pandemonium. Everyone wanted a go. Whilst that was going on, Meredith sat on a bench in the shade, watching the action. It wasn't that she was in pain that she wasn't joining in, actually, she felt perfectly healthy, but Joey's reaction had scared her. She didn't know what had happened to make him so upset, and so much _more _upset than the others.

Tyler was standing on the roof overlooking the pool. Well, actually he was standing on the window-ledge so that he could reach an iron ring that hung above the window. Brian was at the other side of the pool, only 2 metres from where Meredith was sitting, attaching one end of a thick cable to the lowest part of the over-hanging balcony. Tyler had just succeeded in attaching the other end to the ring. The two men grinned at each other and Brian ran back up to the roof.

'Is this going to hold?'

'Only one way to find out'

They grinned and Tyler swung a clothes hanger that they had re-enforced with sticks, metal poles and tonnes of duct tape over the wire. With a quick salute, he stepped off of the roof. The rope was slacker than they had thought, and he actually plummeted about 3 feet before sliding towards the far end of the pool at high speed. Before the hanger hit the end, he let go and gracefully flipped into the water, surfacing to great applause. The hangar was pulled back up on a pulley to allow the others to have a go.

Joey walked over and sat down next to Meredith, who was watching all her friends have fun with a gentle, loving smile on her face.

'I'm so sorry Mer.' Joey burst out. 'I had no right to do that, storm out. You have no idea why I did it and if I put myself in your place I wouldn't just be scared but I'd probably punch me in the face. It's just really hard to explain what happened and I'm not sure I'm ready to say everything yet. Is that okay?' He looked at her, his eyes looked so much like Darren's as he stared at her, large and puppy-like.

'I'm sorry too Jo-Jo.' The use of her old nickname for him made him choke up. She smiled and took a deep breath. 'It's horrible. Not knowing what's happened, especially when it was obviously something big, but I do want to give myself a chance to remember it. So I'll wait, that's fine.' She smiled up at him, he grinned back and hugged her tight. That would do, Joey thought. For now, it was enough.

Meredith's thoughts wandered, Joey couldn't know this, but she was thinking back to times with Joey that she _could _remember, and how she had felt about him and still did feel. Because Meredith hadn't only just fallen for Joey. She's loved him for three years and of course, she could still remember that.

This left the two of them in an unsolvable paradox. Each was in love with the other, and neither knew how the other felt. Joey could remember falling for Meredith that week, all the touches, kisses and laughter. Meredith had that only in her head, from what she had imagined being with Joey would be like from the previous three years, but had no recollection of anything actually happening.

As they drew apart from hugging, both had the irresistible urge to say something, but then, with a splash (that turned out to be Lauren breaking the zipline and falling into the pool) the moment was gone.


	26. Round in circles

***Creeps in carefully knowing I'm going to get abuse for not updating for half a year* I'M SO SORRY EVERYONE! I know I completely abandoned this, and I promise to try and make it up to you! Exams got in the way, and college and stuff, so I'm extremely sorry. Feel free to verbally abuse me and what-not. You've all been so lovely, continuing to review after all this time. I've had to re-read most of this so I know what's happened, and I apologise if the next couple of updates are a bit vague. I have to get back into writing like this again! Thank you all you amazing people, and now I shall actually write another chapter! :D – C xxx**

Chapter 26: Running round in circles

'Oh…my…gooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oood!' Meredith squealed, as she sat at the top of the make-shift waterslide. Lauren had convinced her, despite the others warning that she needed to rest, as she had only got out of hospital about 12 hours before, to have a turn on what Lauren had dubbed 'A masterpiece of cray-cray water fun time.' Meredith pushed herself off the roof and plummeted down the tarpaulin, hitting the water with an almighty splash before bouncing to the surface, laughing hysterically.

Joey swam towards her and helped her to the side. They grinned at each other, both looking like they wanted to say something more about the conversation they'd had earlier. However, the mood was somewhat ruined by Tyler and Joe Walker, who were both attempting to use the zip-wire at the _same time. _Tyler was holding onto the hanger, and Walker had his arms and legs wrapped around Tyler's neck and waist.

'ARE YOU SURE THIS IS SAFE?' Jaime shouted, panicked, from the poolside.

'NO!' Yelled Tyler, as Joe yelled; 'PROBABLY NOT.'

Jaime rolled her eyes, something she had perfected over the last few years. (It's hard not to when your friends are this crazy, she thought to herself.) 'WELL, JUST BE…careful.' She finished as Tyler and Joe flung themselves off the roof. Everyone turned to look at what seemed to happen in slow motion. The two boys were halfway over the pool when the wire came unhooked from the ring at the top of the window. The boys fell with alarming speed, and crashed soundly into the pool, soaking everyone in the vicinity, which was, well, _everyone._

'Right, no more waterpark-makeshift-things' Julia said sternly, looking down at Joe and Tyler who were struggling to get out of the pool, owing to their limbs being entangled in wire and each other.

'But-' Lauren began

'NO.' Julia said, staring at her tiny friend who was pouting and giving the puppy dog eyes.

'Come on, let's go inside and get changed. I've got a surprise for later.' Joe Moses said.

The word 'surprise' got everyone rather excited, so with very little moaning the group traipsed indoors. There was general hubbub for an hour or so as everyone fought over showers, got changed into dry clothes, Tyler wearing his onesie even though it was about 100 degrees outside. Everyone piled into the kitchen, as the trips designated chefs (Tyler and Julia) began rustling up something for lunch.

By 2pm, everyone was full of sandwiches, chips, cake, left over pasta and ice-cream.

'Can we play a game?' Jaime said brightly.

'Scrabble?'

'NO!' Everyone shouted back at Lauren.

'Lauren, we are never playing Scrabble with you again.' Joe Moses said, seriously.

Lauren pouted. 'But why?'

'Because you just make up words, then refuse to play unless we accept them!' Julia reminded her.

'No I don't!' Her bottom lip still protruding in a hurt manner. She looked at Brian for support.

'Sorry Lolo, it's true.' Brian said, giving her a squeeze round the middle and kissing her cheek. She wriggled out of his grasp and stood up, which really didn't make that much impact.

'You're all mean.' She said, before flouncing out of the room. It would have been okay, if she hadn't tripped over an umbrella stand and fallen flat on her face. She picked herself up and slowly walked back to sit next to Brian. 'Fine. We won't play Scrabble.' She felt Brian shaking next to her. 'Brian Holden if you laugh at what just happened I will go all Taz on yo' ass.'

'Monopoly?' Julia said loudly, desperate to keep the peace.

After a general consensus was made, the group split into teams. The Langs, Darren and Julia, Brian and Lauren, Jaime and Walker, Joe Moses and Tyler and Joey and Meredith.

'I'M THE HAT!' Lauren yelled, scooping it out the box before anyone else could claim it. Brian looked somewhat apprehensive about having Lauren for a partner, but that didn't last long. Whatever skill she lacked in Scrabble, she made up for in Monopoly.

Within 2 hours, everyone was reduced to bankruptcy, excluding her and Brian. She refused to answer to anything but 'Monopoly Queen' for the rest of the day.

'RIGHT!' Joe Moses said as it started getting dark. 'My surprise is nearly ready. Please make your way through to the back yard, going via the kitchen to pick up your delegated snacks.

The group filed through the kitchen, picking up the bags with their names on. They found a gazebo on the grass, set out under it were chairs, pillows, bean bags, all also named. They found their designated seat and looked the way the chairs were facing. A giant projector screen had been set up against the back of the house.

'Moses, you _beauty!_' Walker said, throwing himself down onto the half of the sofa with his name on. Everyone opened their bags to find their favourite snacks inside.

Tyler was already munching away on cake pops, Lauren had some gluten-free snacks, Joey had Red Vines, twizzlers and a Hershey bar. There was something for everyone.

'Okay, so, I was going to let everyone vote on what to watch, but I changed my mind.' Moses said, standing at the front. He grinned and turned on the projector before settling down on his bean bag.

'Oh my God' Darren said as he realised what Joe had put on. The initial music was unmistakable.

'Oh.' Lauren said softly, leaning into Brian on their shared air bed.

'A Very Potter Musical.' Joey said, reading the words that lit up the screen. 'Have we all actually watched this since we were editing it?'

'No.' Said everyone quietly from where they were sitting.

'That's not all.' Moses said softly. 'I've got all the productions. We're having a movie marathon. AVPM, AVPS, MAMD, Starship, everything.'

The group settled down together, listening to the music that started it all, taking them back to where it all began.


	27. Nearing the end

**HOLA CHICOS! Look! An update! One that didn't have an 8 month gap between this and the last one! EXCITING! Okay I shall shut up now. I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and I wish you the very best going into 2013. YOU'RE ALL SUPERMEGAFOXYAWESOMEHOT! Keep the reviews coming! – C xx**

Chapter 27: Nearing the end

Everyone was a bit teary after A Very Potter Musical. They laughed and cried on and off through the night watching the other shows and just as the sun was beginning to rise, they turned off the camera and sleepily piled inside.

'I'll make some…hot…chocolate' Julia yawned, looking around at the surrounding StarKids, all of whom looked exhausted. After taking a mug, each of them crashed practically where they stood. The only people left without space downstairs (excluding Brian and Lauren who'd gone up to their usual bedroom, everyone left them to it) were Meredith and Joey.

'Shall we go upstairs then?' Meredith yawned, covering her mouth. Joey nodded and they crept out of the room into the dark foyer. '_Ouch!' _Meredith hissed. 'That was my foot Jo-jo.'

'Shit, sorry!' Joey replied, placing his hands on Meredith's shoulders to guide her through the darkness to the stairs. As they climbed his hands slid down to accommodate her waist. Neither knew how the other had butterflies from the contact. They eventually reached the top of the stairs and turned into the bedroom on the left. The three single beds had been pushed together.

'AWESOME!' Joey breathed before diving onto the bed, performing a forward roll and lying on his back with his head on the pillow. He leaned over and pulled Meredith down onto the bed beside him.

'You're tickling me Joey!' She laughed as quietly as possible. Joey raised one eyebrow suggestively.

'Oh, you don't like being tickled? What a _shame._ Really.' Quick as a flash he swung his leg over her, pinning her arms above her head with one hand and tickling her mercilessly with the other. She was doing her best not to shout too loud, and he was doing his best not to laugh himself.

'Awh, little Merediddy, not big and strong enough to get me off her.' Joey teased jokingly.

'Joey. You. Better. Stop. Or. Else.' Meredith said when she could catch her breath.

'Oh yeah, how are you going to stop me?' He winked, grinning down at Meredith who looked extraordinarily defiant.

And then, almost in slow motion, she reached up and kissed him full on the mouth. For a few glorious seconds, the kiss lasted. Joey let go of Merediths hands.

'I thought you didn't remember.' He said, staring at her as though she was as dazzling as the sun.

'Remember what?' She asked, but as she uttered the words she flashed back to the first fleeting kiss they had shared. It was there and gone in an instant.

'Wait, the last week…we…_kissed?_' She whispered, biting her lip as she looked at Joey.

'Yes honey. We kissed.' He said, staring at her questioningly.

'So…what does this mean?' She looked him straight in the eye, and her beauty almost knocked him backwards.

'Well, it depends on you. I'm in love with you Meredith. You forgetting was the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I thought I'd lost my only chance.'

'Would it help,' Meredith began, 'if I told you I'd been in love with you for three years, and all I'd been hoping for was a chance. You made me so happy and I didn't even remember it.'

Joey leaned in and pushed Merediths hair out of her face. 'You are so beautiful Meredith Stepien' he said, and leaned in. Their lips met and they were home.

The next few hours they spent lying next to each other, each afraid to fall asleep in case they woke up and it had all been a dream. As the sun was fully risen they fell asleep in each others arms.

The next day began slowly. Coffee was made and drunk by the bucket-load and Tyler was being teased at the breakfast table for not looking like his picture-perfect self.

Meredith and Joey wandered in, holding hands shyly which was not missed by Lauren.

'OH MY GOSH, SHE REMEMBERED?!' Lauren screeched, pointing accusingly towards their linked hands.

'Woah, Lauren, INSIDE VOICE PLEASE.' Tyler said, clutching his head dramatically as Lauren glared at him.

'Not exactly.' Joey said softly. 'But it's sorted out.' He smiled so brightly at Meredith that everyone just wanted to bundle on the new couple and squeeze the cuteness out of them.

'Celebratory pancakes?' Darren said, sliding round the table to offer pancakes with smiley faces to the new arrivals.

'I can't believe we fly home tomorrow.' Lauren pouted from her perch on Brian's lap. He was absent-mindedly stroking her hair like a puppy.

'I know, but we start rehearsals soon for our new show, which will be great, and we've got the tour to sort out!' Jaime enthused from the doorway.

This brightened the mood somewhat. 'Well, we should start packing I guess…' Nick said.

There was general hustle and bustle as suitcases were dragged out from underneath beds and missing socks were accounted for. Eventually, as it was getting dark the packing was finished. A game of charades and a cup of tea later and the Starkids were all back in bed, ready for their early flight the next morning, because _of course _nothing would go wrong. Or would it?


	28. Shocking Developments

Chapter 28: Shocking developments

The next morning proved to be dark and cloudy, matching everyone's mood fairly well. Joe Walker knew right from the off that it was going to be a stressful day due to the fact that upon getting out of bed, he tripped straight over Darren's suitcase which (of course) had been left half-open in the middle of the room.

Silently cursing so as to not wake the others, he tiptoed downstairs and found Meredith, Joey, Nick, Jaime and Julia huddled around the kitchen table, all wearing the same gloomy look on their faces with their hands wrapped around mugs of tea, coffee and in Jaime's case, hot chocolate.

'How are we all on this fine morning?' Joe asked sarcastically.

He didn't get a reply, which he'd expected, aside from Julia gesturing to the boiled kettle. Joe helped himself to a tea with 4 sugars (I mean, he needed to get energy from SOMEWHERE, right?) and plonked himself down next to Julia.

'Everyone else asleep?'

'Yep. The only reason Jaime, Meredith and I are awake is because Lauren couldn't stop coughing all night. We've been down here since about half 4.' Julia replied, yawning and taking a gulp of coffee.

'Ouch,' Said Joe, 'That sucks…'

'Mmm' said Julia, turning to look at the stairs where Joe Moses, Darren, Brian, Matt and Tyler had all congregated in various arrays of clothing and pyjamas.

Within 5 minutes they all had drinks of their own and with a lot of squishing managed to fit round the table.

Meredith who was now on Joey's lap said what they were all thinking. 'Do you think Lauren's okay?'

'I'm going to go and check on her.' Said Julia, jumping up and heading to the stairs. She knocked on Lauren's door; 'Lo? Are you awake honey?' She pushed open the door and walked towards Lauren's bed. She was tossing and turning in her sleep, and to Julia's touch felt as hot as the sun.

Gently she shook Lauren awake. 'Honey, are you feeling okay?'

'Smashing' Lauren croaked, looking at Julia and groaning when the movement sent judders of pain to her head.

'Sweetie I think you've got a fever.'

'I thought I looked hotter than usual.' The weak attempt at a joke made Julia smile, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. 'I'm gonna grab you some ice packs and some water okay?'

'And some painkillers…please.' Lauren caught her breath. 'Quickly.'

Julia ran downstairs and quickly explained Lauren's condition. She cut Brian's insistence of seeing her with a look. 'She needs to be alone right now. She may be infectious and I'd rather have one ill that everyone.'

'Jules, to get our flight we need to leave in half an hour.' Nick said, seriously.

Julia looked at him. Of course she knew this, she'd been worrying since she saw Lauren about catching their plane home. 'Right, I want everyone packed and ready to go in 20 minutes, okay? Don't worry about Lauren.' She said before anyone could butt in, which seemed likely. 'I'll sort her out, could one of you guys pack her stuff? Start loading up the bus and we'll see how she feels in a while.'

The others jumped to it. The usual banter broke out which Lauren, in bed, felt upset to be missing out on. When Julia returned Lauren was attempting to get dressed without coughing herself to death, and Julia ushered her back into bed.

'But…the flight.' Lauren got out before she succumbed to another bout of coughing.

'Yes sweetie and if we're getting you there then you'll be going in your pyjamas! Mer's packing for you so you don't need to worry okay?'

Jaime popped her head around the door. 'Hey Lo! How are you feeling?' she smiled. Then to Julia; 'we're packed and ready. Nearly finished loading up too. How are we looking?'

Julia looked at Lauren, the sadness and worry in her eyes that she'd be too ill to travel. 'We're good. Can you get Brian and J-Walk up here?'

Lauren wondered why, until they were both in the room. 'Oh hell no, I am not being carried.'

'It's for your own good Munchkin.' Joe said, gently lifting her torso while Brian held her legs. Julia grabbed a travel pillow and blanket and walked ahead of the boys out to the bus. Despite the somewhat questionable circumstances, JoMo was filming the escapade. Lauren may have been ill, but she was conscious enough to swear neatly at Joe over Brian's shoulder. He grinned and blew her a kiss.

'Right, everyone in the bus except Lo and I.' Julia said.

'No.' Brain cut in. 'I don't care about getting ill, I'm coming with Lo.'

'No…Bri-' Lauren protested weakly, but he cut her off. He switched to carrying Lauren on his own, cradling her delicately, and slid into the backseat of the car with her. Julia shrugged at the others and climbed into the driver's side.

The journey seemed to take forever. On the bus Tyler (who was driving) and Jaime (who had shot-gunned) had put on a mix of Broadway hits. After the novelty of this had worn off (surprisingly quickly) the bus ran in silence, only punctuated every so often by Joey and Meredith's murmuring.

Just before they reached the airport, Darren got a text from Brian. _Don't alarm any1, we're stopping off at hospital. Lo's worse. See u at the airport. – Bri_

Darren quickly replied: _No prob, will just tell Ty and J. Godspeed, soldier. Give Lo a kiss from me, but keep it pg ;) sorry, inappropriate, but anyhow, c u soon bud. – Daz_

Darren relayed the message to Tyler and Jaime, who nodded without turning round. 20 minutes later they pulled into the airport and began unloading.

'Where are Lo, Jules and Brian?' Joe Walker questioned.

'Erm, we didn't want to alarm anyone.' Darren said carefully. 'They took Lauren to the hospital. She was getting worse.' The others all looked distraught.

'How long have we got till the flight Darren?' Jaime asked quietly.

'Only 3 hours.' He replied, looking at her worriedly. 'Right!' He said to everyone else. 'Let's go!'

He set off with a spring in his step, but all he could think about was Lauren.

'She'll be okay Dare; she always is.' Jaime's voice did not succeed in calming him, but he gave her a tight hug.

_Bri- any news on what it is? – Daz_

_It's not fever. It was a reaction. She's in anaphylactic shock. They said we got her here just in time. I'll text when we know more. You should check-in Daz. – Bri_

Darren closed his eyes for a second to gather his thoughts, before leading the others through the door to the airport, the breeze left behind in the stuffy airport. There was nothing they could do now but wait, and hope that their friends would get back in time.


	29. It's not the end Not really

**Author's note: **Okaaaaay, firstly, this is the final chapter of this particular fanfic. I am so sorry it took this long to finish, I wasn't even going to end it, because I didn't want to meet this finality, but I thought because of all the support and love you guys have given me that it was my right to finish it off. So, here it is after almost 11 months of waiting, the final chapter. Thank you for sticking with this story for so long, your reviews kept me going when I was writing, and this doesn't have to be the end. I can always write a sequel! (But maybe a bit later!) Thank you all so so so much, and I hope this ending doesn't disappoint you. It was hard for me to write, but I owe you all an ending, so here it is. Lots and lots of love, hugs and butterfly kisses, your Charlie xx

Chapter 29: It's not the end. Not really.

Lauren was slowly dipping in and out of consciousness as Julia drove as close behind the bus as she could. 'Jules, she's getting worse.' Brian said worriedly, feeling Lauren's forehead.

Lauren herself felt like a balloon. She could feel how puffy her eyes had become and rather than worrying about her safety, she worried about how goddamn awful she looked, did Brian really have to see her looking like Quasimodo?!

'JULIA!' Brian yelled as Lauren's eyes closed and she went limp in his arms. Within a second Julia had swung to the right, following a signpost leading to the hospital.

'Text Dare.' She said quickly, driving as fast as she could under the limit. It seemed to take an eternity to reach the hospital drive. Upon arrival, Julia ran out and came back with a paramedic and a hospital bed, which Lauren was lowered onto and whisked away on.

Julia and Brian shared a quick glance, and ran after the retreating medic. It seemed like the tests and examinations took forever. When the doctors realised that it was an allergy and not a virus things started to speed up. Lauren's swelling began to subside and slowly she regained consciousness.

She awoke to Brian stroking her forehead and Julia holding her hand. 'Hello gorgeous.' Brian smiled.

'Why bonjour.' Lauren croaked, looking around the room. 'Why am I at the dentist?'

Brian laughed, 'you're not Lo. You're in hospital. You were in anaphylactic shock, we only just got you here in time.'

'Ah. That's exciting. And I presume that's why I feel like I've been trampled on by a herd of elephants?'

'Yes, I would assume so.' Brian said, kissing her forehead and helping her sit up.

'GOOD GOLLY LOOK AT THE TIME!' Lauren suddenly yelled, causing Brian and Julia to practically have a heart attack. 'WE'RE GOING TO MISS THE FLIGHT IF WE DON'T LEAVE IMMEDIATELY!'

'Lo, we need to make sure you're oka-'

'NO TIME!' Cried Lauren, leaping (well, stumbling) out of bed and attempting unsuccessfully to dress herself. Julia insisted on asking a doctor while Brian dressed Lauren and helped pick up her belongings.

10 minutes later, they were back on the road and speeding towards the airport as fast as possible, nearly killing 5 pedestrians and running 2 red lights.

Meanwhile at the check-in gate the other StarKids were squabbling as usual about tickets and seating and who-ate-whose-lunch (Joe Walker had eaten almost everyone's.) They heard their flight announced, and were to make their way to the boarding lounge. Darren's heart sank as he looked around at the entrance, and then to all his friends.

'We better go.' Tyler said, picking up his suitcase as well as Lauren's, which he was looking after. Slowly the group moved towards the boarding lounge, all looking hopefully over their shoulder's at regular intervals.

The wait to board the plane went far too quickly for Jaime. She was just hoping that her best friends would make the flight, but as time went on she lost more hope with every second. All the other StarKids were fidgety and restless. Joey and Meredith looked agitated, the Joe's were walking around, occasionally bumping into things or people and apologising, whether the thing was inanimate or not.

Darren was texting Julia, to no avail. Jaime was trying to read, as was Tyler, but neither could concentrate. Nick and Matt were playing cards, both willing the missing trio to turn up soon.

Their flight was called for boarding. Slowly, dragging out the inevitable, the group moved towards the door and walked out into the now glaring sunshine in the direction of the plane.

'Julia we're never going to make it.' Brian said desperately, looking at his watch and then craning around to look for the airport. Julia was thinking this too, but they had to at least _try._

'WE'RE HERE!' Julia yelled, jumping out of the car, throwing the keys at the rent-a-car man who seemed pretty startled to say the least, and running towards the check-in desk. Brian followed, half pulling and half carrying Lauren whose gusto seemed somewhat depleted from earlier.

As Brian, Lauren and Julia checked in and ran towards the gate, the other StarKids had settled in their seats, none of them mentioning the 3 spaces that should be filled. The engines started and the plane began to taxi towards the runway.

Julia, Lauren and Brian were running full pelt, accompanied by a security guard, towards the retreating plane.

Joe, sitting by the window and gazing absent-mindedly out caught sight of the trio tearing towards them. 'THEY'RE HERE!' he screamed, gesturing wildly out the window.

Pandemonium broke out among the StarKids, all screaming for the plane to wait, and for once, luck was on their side. The plane came to a stop, and a second later Lauren's head poked around the door, followed instantly by Brian and Julia, all of whom looked exhausted.

'Nice of you to drop in.' Tyler said with a grin. Jaime had pulled Lauren into a tight hug, and moved over to make room for her and Brian. Julia took her seat next to Darren, and when everyone was seated (Darren had made an apology to the passengers which pretty quickly straightened things out) the plane took off, leaving the heat and stress of Florida behind.

Brian looked at Lauren, and saw that she was crying silently. 'Does it hurt Lo-lo?' he asked, worriedly.

'No,' she sniffed, 'but I don't want to leave. I don't want things to go back to how they were.'

'They won't.' Brian said, grasping her hands and pulling her close. 'I promise.'

'How?' She said, staring at him with teardrops caught in her eyelashes. Brian couldn't imagine ever finding anyone more beautiful than her at this moment.

'Because this time you've got me.'

The friends all settled down for the flight, chatting, reliving memories and laughing. Meredith and Joey were cuddled up napping, Julia and Darren were playing travel-scrabble and laughing to themselves. Finally they were all together and safe. It had been an eventful week, and not always a good one, but they had spent the time together, and had memories that would last a life time.

Their holiday, like everything, had to end. But for everyone, it was the start of a new beginning.


End file.
